


The Wizard and the Shapeshifter

by SpencerandHotchLover



Category: Criminal Minds, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, F/M, M/M, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 23:10:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 275,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9146215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpencerandHotchLover/pseuds/SpencerandHotchLover
Summary: Hotch is a wolf shifter with a mating gene and he meets Spencer Reid shortly after he turns thirty after he rescues his sister from her boyfriend. Hotch immediately discovers that this Spencer Reid is his mate, but what he doesn't know is that Reid is also a wizard. Will Hotch accept that magic is real and that there are magicals all over the world hidden from the ordinary world?





	1. Chapter 1

The Wizard and the Shapeshifter

A/N If I get a decent amount of reviews for this story that I split into many chapters, I'll start putting my other stories into chapters to make them easier to read

Part One

"Guys! I'm home!" Spencer called.

He was extremely tired, but then he had just finished a 16 hour shift at Murphy's Hospital for magical injuries. He was just 19 years old and he had graduated from a small magical school in the Las Vegas area. You see Spencer Reid was a wizard and so were his 3 brothers and 4 sisters. Luckily, for him, as soon as he had graduated from his small private magical school, with top grades he had been offered an internship at Murphy's Hospital in Virginia. He had accepted, but he had made to stipulation that his brothers and sisters had to finish their education and he had to spend sometime with them as well.

Spencer remembered being amazed when all his brothers and sisters were born, because he knew that his mother had had trouble getting pregnant with him as he was oldest. However, Spencer had learned since then that both William and Diana Reid had wanted more children, so when his mother still hadn't gotten pregnant within three years she had agreed to take a fertility potion and by the time he had been four he'd had a twin sisters. Two years after that he had another set of twin siblings this time both boys and less then a year after that with this time no fertility potion his mother had gotten pregnant while she had been nursing and given him a sister. His mother's last pregnancy had produced another set of twins a boy and a girl and they had been quite a surprised since Spencer knew neither of his parents had been aiming for anymore children, even though his father had a well paying job as an attorney.

Spencer had always known that his mother was a witch and that it was possible that he and his siblings would inherit her talent to do magic while his father was a complete muggle.

His mother Diana who had died when he had been 17 in a car crash had actually been astonished that all her children had inherited her ability to do magic, because thanks to their father being a muggle it was likely that at least some of her children would turn out to be squibs.

His father had been so wrapped in grief that he hadn't been capable of taking care of himself, much less his children so it was just lucky that he was old enough to get legal guardianship of his siblings at least in the wizarding world as 17 was considered grown up.

He, Spencer was the only one that had been at home as he had graduated at the top of his class when his mother had died and he was also the only one to see how his father began to drink himself to death. Spencer had tried to tell his father that he should not drink so much, but he had watched helpless as William Reid had continued to consume a great amount of alcohol until he had finally committed suicide by slitting his wrists.

Luckily, for Spencer this had happened before his siblings had come home from their school in the summer. He had to make all the arrangements for a second funeral in less then a year, but since the Reids weren't exactly poor, as they had millions of Galleons, thanks to their mother, as she had come from a wealthy family. The 30,000,000 Galleons was just her portion of her family's inheritance and once his grandparents had died his mother had inherited everything, because one of her brothers had died of a bad heart days after his birth and her brother Cole when he was just 14.

Spencer had since learned that a lot a wizarding families were against their children marrying a muggle, but the Potters had never been like that. Spencer had learned his family history on his grandfather's knee and the old man had taught him that they had originally come from England many centuries ago and that they likely still had relatives over there.

The reason that their family had come to America over 500 years ago, just five centuries after the founding of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was because their ancestor had been a squib and that was quite an embarrassment back then. His ancestor had wanted to make his own way in the world, without bringing shame to his family, so even though his family had loved him and begged him to stay he had made his decision taking his portion of the Potter inheritance and gone to America.

Even back then the Potter fortune had been quite large, even though his ancestor Archie Potter had had 15 children which was quite common back then in both muggle and wizarding families, muggles because there was so many diseases that would kill their children before they were grown and magical folks because they wanted plenty of children to carry on their family name, well the ones who could afford that many children anyway.

How the Potters had first gotten their wealth had been lost into the mists of history as it had never been written down or if it was either back in England with his distant relatives or turned into dust.

Spencer would love to meet his distant relatives someday, but right now he had other things on his mind.

It was, however, thanks to that wealth, plus the money his father had made as an attorney that had allowed him to take care of his siblings after his parents deaths and continued to pay for their magical education, as since he was the oldest he was the one that could access his parents Gringotts vaults while his siblings could not access their portion of the inheritance until they came of age. Also as the oldest he had inherited his grandparents vault as well and that contained another 5,000,000,000 Galleons so really none of them would have to ever work if they didn't want to, but their mother had always preached that idle hands led to unhappiness and boredom, so it was always better to have a career that they were happy with instead of being idle.

Spencer sighed, as he thought back to the last couple of years since his parents death, and realized that he had been so busy that he really hadn't thought about his parents in quite sometime. Most of his siblings were in school nine months of the year, and even his oldest sisters still had two years to go, while his three of his other siblings had considerably more than that and his youngest twin siblings Hudson and Bronwyn hadn't even started school yet, though they were due to next year. Well, thanks to the fact that they were originally Potters, at least he didn't have to worry about money or where their next meal was coming from, because his starting healer's pay wouldn't have covered all his siblings continuing education.

"Hey Spence, you're home early," his sister Leah said.

"Did you forget I was going to take some time off to spend with all of you before you go back to school?" Spencer asked sister who was four years younger than him along with her twin.

"No, I didn't forget," Leah assured her brother with a smile kissing his cheek. "I was only teasing you."

"So what have you been up to while I've been working?" asked Spencer curiously, "and where are the rest of your siblings?"

"Me? I've been doing a homework assignment for the last couple of hours," Leah explained. "Before that, I went to get my hair and my nails done and I also bought a new outfit because I have a date tonight."

Spencer nodded for this was quite common with his sister since she'd had quite a few boyfriends over the last year. Spencer remembered the argument that had ensured with her when she had wanted to start dating, that he wouldn't allow it until she was at least 15 as he thought that she would be too young to even think about it before then.

"And I have I met your current boyfriend yet?" asked Spencer.

Leah rolled her eyes, but knew that that her brother was only trying to protect her from doing something foolish or getting herself in serious trouble

"Yes, dad," Leah said sarcastically, but with a smile to take the sting out of her words. "Conrad and I have a date."

"Alright then, you know the rules, you must be home by no later than 11," Spencer reminded his sister.

"Don't worry so much brother dear, Conrad and I are only going to the movies and to dinner," Leah told him rolling her eyes again.

"All right then, I'll see when you get home," Spencer told her with a smile, "and of course, I'm going to worry about you, you're my sister and I love you, therefore, I worry about you."

"I love you too," Leah assured her brother giving him a hug, "and just so you know we worry about you to for you are alone for most year you know while we were in school. Well, except for Hudson and Bronwyn, but next year they are due to start as well and then you really will be alone, for nine months of the year."

"I do all right," Spencer said with a shrug not telling his sister how lonely he was, although his job did keep him busy and therefore, distracted. He had never been one to date much and his older siblings that he had been in school with knew this and knew it was mainly due the fact that he was shy when it came to the opposite sex and also his know-it-all attitude and excellent grades didn't help. Also the fact that it didn't look as if he had to study just as hard as anyone else in order to achieve his grades didn't help either and Leah had to admit that that accusation had some validity. What only his family knew was that Spencer only had to read something once in order to remember it and he also read incredibly fast, like 20,000 words a minute, which she knew was a rather unique talent. He had always downplayed his abilities in school as he didn't want to be considered even more of a know-it-all then he already was for he was the only one he knew of that had this very unique ability to read as fast and remember every word.

"I had better go get ready for my date. Conrad will be here pretty soon," Leah said.

"Scat," Spencer told her kissing her on the forehead and shooing her out of the room.

"Just so you know the rest of our family had plans tonight, except for Hudson and Bronwyn."

"Well, of course, they don't have plans they are only ten and they don't even start their magical education until next year, although if it wasn't for the magical babysitting service that there's no way I could work and look after them too."

"Yes, Annabel is great," Leah admitted with a smile. "but I miss Isadora as she taught me, well, all of us really a lot before I was old enough to go to go away for my magical education. She taught me more then mom ever did."

"Well, mom was more of a scholar and although she was decent at magic, she hardly ever used it except to clean and cook," Spencer said, as he remembered.

"Yes, that's true," Leah admitted as she headed back to her room. "I'll see you in the morning big brother, don't bother to wait up for me."

"Of course, I'm going to wait up," Spencer told Leah quite seriously. "I have to make sure you get home safely after all that's my job, as your legal guardian as well as your big brother."

Leah gave her brother a wary grin as she had expected no other response and stuck her tongue out at him before she started to walk upstairs to prepare for her date.

"Now that's certainly mature," Spencer teased her causing Leah to laugh

"You deserved it, big brother," Leah said. "Besides, when have I ever claimed to be mature?"

"Never," Spencer said immediately.

"There you see," Leah said with a grin. "You just answered your own question."

"So I did," Spencer said with a smile, "so I did. Scat, as I believe you said you had a date to get ready for."

"Yes, sir," Leah answered with a mock saute.

"Get out here you brat," Spencer told her the humor clear in his voice

Leah laughed and disappeared upstairs to get ready for her date.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Aaron Hotchner sighed as he completed yet another piece of paperwork. He would never admit it out loud, but he was melancholy and lonely. He and Haley had only been married for a few years before they had both mutually decided that it was for the best if they divorced.

Hotch still didn't know why he had gone along with his mother when she had arranged a marriage for him or why Haley had agreed to it either. His only excuse really was at the time he had still been a young man who had just finished college and that it was tradition in a lot of shapeshifter families for their parents to arrange marriages for their children, as a lot of the older wealthier families didn't believe in finding your True Mate and even if they did it was likely that you would never meet the person that you were meant to be with, so why not arrange marriage for their offspring? Hotch remembered thinking at the time that it was just easier to give into his mother then have her pester him for the next 10 years which Abigail Hotchner would have done and made his life miserable as well as lonely.

Hotch and Haley had mutually decided to give marriage a try, just to get both sets of their parents off their backs, but they had both discovered very quickly that they just weren't very compatible as anything more than casual friends and so less then five years after they had tied the knot both had decided that they wanted to be free to pursue other relationships, so had parted ways, which hadn't made either of their families happy, but that was just too bad as it was their lives and not their parents. Unfortunately, for him though, even though he had dated as frequently as his time allowed he still hadn't found anybody that he just sort of clicked with as a shapeshifter just knew when they had found the one person they were meant to spend the rest of their life with, as it was supposed to feel like a puzzle piece just snapping into place in his or her soul the moment they met. When that happened it was kind of a recognition single and the bond would only be complete once they'd made love for the first time. It didn't even matter if that person was the same-sex or another Shifter or not, what did matter was that the shapeshifter's mate accepted it. It had been known to happen that a Shifter's mate rejected them, but only if they weren't another Shifter themselves and when that happened a lot of times the Shifter in question took his or her own life and if they didn't they were never very happy for however, long they lived after that, which was sometimes only a few months, and other times the full length of their lives.

The ones that only lived a few months at most had been known to let depression overtake them and died from it. Of course, when that happened the Shifter in question usually wasn't very strong-willed and also there were usually other things going on in their lives that caused them to go into a deep depression not just because they had lost their mate, because the person hadn't accepted them or died for some reason.

"Hey, Aaron, you okay?" Rossi asked his friend.

"I'm fine," Hotch told his old friend. "Just trying to complete all this paperwork like usual."

Hotch tried his best to sound normal, but the sharp look that Dave shot him told him that he had not entirely succeeded. Hotch admitted if only to himself a little ruefully that his old friend and mentor David Rossi knew him a little too well, and although his outward appearance at normality would probably have fooled the rest of the team, but Rossi was a different matter entirely.

"No, you're not," Rossi said seeming to read his every expression and body language, quite accurately. "Why don't you meet me at my place and we can talk about it?"

"No, thank you, I'll be fine," Hotch promised his old friend.

"It'll help you to get it off your chest and not keep it all bottled up inside," Rossi pointed out to his friend. "You'll feel better if you talk to someone about what the problem is, although I'm sure I can guess without any trouble."

"I'm fine," Hotch said again, but this time the sent a glare Dave's way who ignored the look entirely.

"I'll get you tell me what the problem is of eventually so you might as well just give in as you know how stubborn I can be, as the Rossis are known for their stubbornness," Rossi told his friend.

Hotch snorted at that for it was true at least in Rossi's case.

"It's nothing that won't work itself out in time, Dave," Hotch told the other man who knew that wasn't really the answer.

Dave studied his old friend for a minute and then the answer of why Aaron was so melancholy struck him like a bolt of lightning.

"I know why you have been so sad and melancholy lately," Rossi announced.

"Oh, and why is that?" asked Hotch knowing that his friend was a very intelligent man and it was very possible that he has hit upon the answer.

The whole team knew that he was a shapeshifter, and so did the FBI and in fact there were many Shifters that worked within the government as well as other jobs and their species was not limited to the United States and in fact there was a percentage of them in most every major city in the world. No one remembered, if they had ever known where Shifters had originally come from, but there were many different kinds. There were wolf Shifters, different types of bear Shifters, various types of cat Shifters, and even kangaroo Shifters, although those types of Shifters were mostly in Australia and Papa New Guinea. The wolf and cat Shifters particularly lions and panthers were the most common, but there were others as well.

He was of course, a wolf Shifter which was one of the most prevalent species at least in the United States and he was also the only Shifter on the team. Most wolf Shifters had very strong personalities and knew how to get what they wanted, although some were also bullies, but that was true of other species including just regular humans which were known as Normals so it wasn't as if Shifters were the only species that had people that forced themselves on others or stole from them or bullied them or any other crime.

"Well, your 30th birthday is just around the corner and I know you're thinking that you'll never find your True Mate."

Rossi was well aware that Shifters were the only species that had what was known as the True Mate. Dave had heard this phenomenon described as a puzzle piece clicking into place in your soul, a part of you that he didn't even know was missing until you found it or at least that was true for most Shifters. Some though refused to marry until they found their True Mate, which meant that they never married in a lot of cases, others married someone that wasn't their True Mate and most of those marriages were happy most of the time just not with a deep sense of satisfaction and connection that a Shifter's True Mate brought. In fact Dave had even heard that a lot at times a Shifter could feel the pull of their one True Mate, especially the older they got, but only if the two of them were in the same city, as the connection didn't work if they were hundreds of miles apart. 30 was a critical time for that rather tenuous connection to strengthen and he knew that his friend was approaching that critical birthday in just a few short weeks. Rossi was sure that his conclusion was the correct one and that his friend's True Mate was in this very city or at least in Washington, since it was close by, because otherwise why would his friend be acting so melancholy?

"I wouldn't be surprised if you're starting to feel a pull, considering you're approaching that critical birthday, which would mean that you're one True Mate is close by," Rossi continued after a moment of thought.

Hotch looked at his old friend for a moment and then revealed, "You're right, I've been feeling this pull for a couple of years now, which is one of the reasons why I haven't gotten into any serious relationships. However, the pull is not coming from anyone here at Quantico, as the connection is much more distant then that and it would also be much stronger if my mate was that close by."

"Well, if you've been feeling the pull for two years now, which has slowly gotten stronger as you've approached your 30th birthday that means that he or she probably just moved into the Virginia or Washington area at that time," Rossi said well aware that a Shifter's mate could be either male of female, although he didn't really approve of same sex relationships, but he also knew that a shifter had no choice in who their mate would be.

"That was my conclusion as well," Hotch admitted. "However, even though I know that my mate is somewhere within a 100 miles, that doesn't make finding them any easier, as that hundred miles covers a lot of territory in every direction. I could search for the next 10 years and I still probably wouldn't run into them as that amount of space has thousands of people or even tens of thousands. The uncertainty of not knowing is driving me crazy, as is having my mate so close with no way to locate them, except by accident."

"It might seem impossible, but I have a feeling that you'll run into your mate when you were meant to," Rossi encouraged his old friend.

"I don't know about that," Hotch said trying not to fiddle with the ballpoint pen in his hand, as he didn't want his old friend to know how afraid he was that he would never meet the person meant for him despite their being within a hundred miles. "After all we are out of town quite a bit and I'm only home for a short stretches of time. When we are home I'm usually here in the office filling out the endless amount of paperwork and when I'm not doing that I'm at home asleep."

Not that I've been sleeping very well lately, Hotch added to himself.

"So, you need to get out more so that you have more of a chance of meeting your mate," Rossi advised. "I've been telling you for years that you work too much anyway and that includes when you were married to Haley. Paperwork or no paperwork you do have a right to a private life and those stuffed shirts upstairs and Strauss be damned, as they can just wait for their damned reports for a change. I know you like to do the paperwork immediately so it doesn't pile up and I can understand that, but it's not going anywhere and it's also neverending as I know you're aware of. I know you have a strong sense of duty, when it comes to your job and there's nothing wrong with that, but all work and no play... or at least time to relax then you'll burn out much faster than if you do take some time for yourself to truly destress."

"You're right," Hotch admitted. "I'm going to go home as soon as my shift is over instead of staying behind to do paperwork. You're also right that I'll have a easier time of meeting my mate if I get out of the office and something I should've done a couple of years ago."

"Good, you'll tell me when you do meet him or her, right?" asked Rossi.

"Of course," Hotch agreed not mentioning that when he did find his mate he intended to not mention it to the team for at least a few months, although he was sure that they would suspect since they were profilers and therefore, far from stupid and very observant. He had no doubt that they would be able to tell he was so happy because he had met his mate that he'd probably be bouncing off the walls. Of course, they wouldn't know the reason his whole attitude had suddenly turned much less serious, though it was likely to be a very subtle change, but still they would likely be able to guess the reason for it, as he admitted wryly, the team knew him rather well because they had worked together for so long.

"Don't just go home, go out to dinner or even to a club although I realize that isn't really your scene. Go to places that people gather as it will be easier to meet your mate if you don't make a hermit of yourself."

"I can't see my mate being a crowd person since the mate bond would never exist with someone that wasn't at least similar to me in personality and interests. Yes, my mate likely doesn't have exactly the same personality as me, but they will be intelligent and share some of the same interests that I do or the bond would never have formed in the first place, as a Shifter and their mate must have at least a few things in common, although it varies from Shifter to Shifter, of course."

"Well, then try quiet places with only a few people instead of large crowds," Rossi suggested. "What you said makes perfect sense because if you and your True Mate don't have anything in common it wouldn't make any sense for a bond to exist between you."

"All right, then that's what I'll do," Hotch promised, "Now if you don't mind I would like to get as much of this paperwork done as possible before the end of shift and Dave you had better not mention this conversation to the rest of the team."

Rossi looked upset at the other man's words and Hotch felt guilty for he knew his old friend could keep a secret. "I won't," Rossi promised solemnly after a moment before getting up from the chair he had been sitting in and heading for the door.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Some months later Hotch birthday had come and gone and he had celebrated it privately and since he wasn't working for once he had bought dinner for himself at a nice restaurant and even indulged in a bottle of wine. Normally for the most part Hotch forgot about his birthday entirely as his family besides, his brothers and sisters had normally forgotten about it, as it wasn't like any of the pups of Abigail and Blaise Hotchner had presents forthcoming, so Hotch as well as his ten brothers and seven sisters had learned to treat birthdays very casually and sometimes even forgot about them entirely or at least he did. Besides, he was usually out of town when his birthday rolled around anyway, so it was not like he had time to celebrate it most years.

Hotch had taken his old friend's advice and had begun to get out more leaving the BAU most days after his shift was over instead of staying behind to do paperwork like he had done in years past.

Since he didn't have to work in the morning he had decided just to drive around and stop for dinner when he got hungry. He knew his way around Virginia and Washington, but only on the main roads he would like to discover all the little back roads that saved you time when you were going somewhere. Besides, it wasn't like he really had any plans, as he didn't have anyone to come home to, as he and Haley had never had pups in the short time they had been married, even though Shifter females were usually very fertile. Maybe Haley had been using protection to stop herself from getting pregnant, Hotch mused. That would've been like her to do that and not tell him. He would've liked a few pups, but since his and Haley's relationship had broken up after less than five years maybe it was just as well that they hadn't had any as both of them would have wanted custody and they would have likely battled it out in court, since both of them were stubborn and he wasn't sure who would have won in the end.

Hotch finished loading his clothes into the washing machine, fixed himself a light lunch and then went on his way.

Finally it was several hours later and just beginning to get dark when Hotch decided it was time to stop for dinner and just as he was looking around for a restaurant to eat at he heard a scream and immediately spotted a young girl who couldn't be more than 16 running away from a boy about the same age. Her blouse was ripped, Hotch noticed as he braked his car before he ran over either teenager.

"Stop right there!" Hotch ordered getting out of his car with his gun in hand. The female looked startled, but immediately raced towards him before the bigger bulkier boy could catch up with her.

"This is none of your business so why don't you just vanish?" the boy suggested rudely.

"It is my business because I'm an FBI agent young man," Hotch told the boy quite seriously showing him his identification. "Now I will have your name, address and phone number so I can contact your parents. If I'm not mistaken you were about to force yourself on your girlfriend and that would have been rape, which is a punishable offense of up to 10 years in prison just for a first offence and even though you're only 16 or 17 the courts would likely try your case as an adult and not a minor as rape is a very serious crime."

"No, it's okay, he just got a little excited," the girl said.

"That's right," the boy replied nervously.

"Can't we just let this incident go?" asked the girl. "Alexander just had a little to much excitement tonight is all and so went to far."

"Very well, but I warn you if I ever hear of it happening again you and I will be having a very different conversation," Hotch growled. "You had better thank your lucky stars that your girlfriend saved your ass this time. Keep in mind that men who force themselves on woman without their consent can be prosecuted, not to mention you're both underage, which is another set of charges altogether."

Alexander nodded and as Hotch put his gun away he ran towards the alleyway again and was soon lost to darkness.

"Thank you for saving me," the girl said. "I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome, but you need to learn to be more careful in the future, as somebody might not be on hand next time to save you," Hotch said. "By the way I'm Aaron Hotchner, supervisory special agent for the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI."

"I'm Liya Reid," Liya introduced herself.

"Can I take you home, Miss Liya?" asked Hotch with a smile.

"Yes, although I don't fancy telling my brother what happened, not to mention my other siblings. My brother Spencer is not going to take the news well and he's going to want to hunt Alex down," Liya said.

"What about your parents?" asked Hotch as he got into the driver's side and Liya got into the passenger's.

"Oh, our mother died in a car crash several years ago and our father less then a year later, from a broken heart. Luckily, for us my oldest brother Spencer had just come of age and so he received guardianship of us."

"What about money though?"asked Hotch. "Doesn't your older brother need to work in order to support you and your siblings?"

"Money isn't a problem as our mother came from a wealthy family and we are the last remaining branch, so we inherited quite a tidy sum and therefore, it is unlikely that any of us will ever want for money. Our grandparents died about 10 years ago, and the money passed onto our mom as she was the only living child's since Uncle Cole got himself killed."

"How old is your brother?" asked Hotch.

"20 and yes, I know that's young but he's also one of the most responsible young men you'll ever meet and he's also a certified genius. He absorbs information like a sponge and his memory is eidetic so he never forgets anything."

"So how many siblings do you have?" asked Hotch.

"Seven," Liya said causally.

"Seven?" asked Hotch trying not to sputter as he thought about that. Most families, well unless you were a Shifter, never had more than two or three children and occasionally four, but no more than that, but he supposed he wasn't one to talk considering his parents had had 18 children within a 13 year period.

Liya giggled at her rescuers reaction. "Yes, seven, which is quite common in our family. Most of our ancestors had at least 10 to 15 children, as not only could they afford to they tended to marry right out of their teens."

Liya didn't mention the fact that thanks to the magic witches tended to be fertile for much longer then human women as they could have children up until their late 50s if they really wanted to and if one had trouble having children there was always a fertility potion which often resulted in at least twins, even if they didn't run in your family until then.

"I shouldn't have reacted like I did since I have 17 brothers and sisters, it's just rare to find a family with so many children in it, unless they are Shifters, so you surprised me," Hotch explained.

"Your parents had 18 children?" Liya asked sounding absolutely flabbergasted and Hotch couldn't blame her.

"They did, as my father believed that it was a woman's sacred duty to provide as many pups as possible to her husband and he only allowed my mother to have her tubes tied when she nearly died during the birth of her last pregnancy."

"That's just wrong," Liya said winkling her delicate nose in disgust.

"It is, but there's a lot of people like that in the world, I'm afraid," Hotch said. "Cruelty, apathy and indifference is not limited to just humans, Liya, but Shifters suffer from it as well."

"I know," Liya said softly, "but it's still wrong."

"Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world," Hotch said philosophically, "because if we did me and my team would be out of a job. What about college though?" asked Hotch changing the subject as he knew that a college education was essential to getting a good job.

"Well, as I said Spencer is a genius and so he completed his college education just last year. He had plenty of time to do that as we are in boarding school for most of the year while he's graduated."

What Liya said was true, but what she didn't mention was that he had done his college courses online and completed them in record time.

While it was true that most wizarding folks didn't know a thing about electronics that was not true of her family since her father had been a muggle and they lived in a perfectly normal home that had electricity even if it was bigger than average.

"So what does your brother do?" asked Hotch.

"He's an intern at one of the local hospitals," Liya replied, "and has been for the last year."

This statement was not completely accurate as Spencer had been working as a healer's apprentice for the last three years ever since he had graduated, but it wasn't like she could tell this muggle, well Shifter, that for he knew nothing of the magical world.

"He'll be finished with his internship in another year and he would've been done much sooner if he hadn't taken the summer off to spend with us before we headed back to our boarding school," Liya said.

"I'm surprised that the hospital allowed him to do that," Hotch said.

"Well, it's not like he needs the money or expects to be paid for the time he takes off since he has plenty to support himself. Once Spencer explained the situation to his employers they agreed to allow him to take the time off once they realized that he was supporting all of us and that his situation was rather unusual. Yes, I know it's not normal to take the summers off when you've just begun working, but the doctor he's working with has been very understanding that not only does Spencer want to spend time with us he's also responsible for us and paying for us to go to school and everything else. Yes, my twin sister and I are old enough to stay by ourselves now but several of my siblings are not and while Leah and I don't mind babysitting occasionally Spencer realizes that we don't want to be trapped in the house for the whole summer."

"So this Alex...?" Hotch began.

"Let's not talk about Alex although if he calls I'm going to tell him that I'm not interested in another date with him after what nearly happened. He expected me to have sex with him just because he took me out to dinner and a movie as it was only our third date and I'm only 16. He just got a little aggressive that's all, but I'm definitely not interested in dating a guy that doesn't listen to me when I tell him no."

"He probably believed that you were just playing hard to get," Hotch suggested.

"He did, as that's what he said when I told him no when he tried to convince me to come back to his place as his parents weren't home and are on vacation. He seemed like such a nice guy and he turned into such a creep," Liya said.

Liya had no idea why she felt so comfortable with this man, but she somehow instinctively knew that he was the genuine deal and a nice guy. She sensed somehow that this Aaron Hotchner believed in justice so deeply that he would never betray his principles by accepting bribes or caving before blackmail or threats from the criminals he caught and that he would always do the right thing. He was a man that knew himself and knew that he would never betray what he believed in.

"Unfortunately, there are a lot of creeps in the world," Hotch said, "that come off as nice guys at first. At least you've learned a lesson and you'll be more careful in the future."

"Definitely," Liya. "My parents didn't raise any stupid children and me and my brothers and sisters have ways to protect ourselves from creeps like him. Our parents believed in teaching us self-defense, so I kicked him where it hurt and that gave me the opportunity to get away."

"Perhaps, you and your sisters at least should consider starting to carry something like mace. If it's sprayed in the eyes it will blind a man enough for you to be able to get a head start. I've heard it stings like the dickens, which gives you an advantage."

"I'll mention it to, my brother," Liya promised. "I'm sure that Spencer will be all for it. He'd do almost anything to protect his sisters from being forcibly violated. Here we are," Liya added as Hotch drove down a very familiar street. "My house is a fourth one on the right."

"Big place," Hotch commented as he turned into the driveway.

"Yes, well it's been in my family for generations and it was the wedding present from my grandparents on my mother side of the family. Mom's family owns quite a few properties around the world that they rent out, mostly to families on vacation," Liya said.

"So unlike a lot of wealthy families the Potters didn't lose their money in the stock market crash," Hotch said.

"No, they didn't," Liya agreed.

The two of them got out of the car and Liya took out her key inserting it into the lock.

"Liya, you're home early," Spencer said coming into the into the entryway to greet them. "Who is this and what happened to you?"

Hotch automatically and mentally cataloged every bit of body language, facial expressions and tone of voice and instantly realized that, although Liya's brother acted calm and in control he had taken in the scene at a glance and the anger beginning to spark in his eyes told Hotch all he needed to know about the conclusion that Spencer had come to.

"Let me go change and then I'll tell you what happened," Liya promised her brother. "By the way this is Aaron Hotchner and he rescued me."

"It's nice to meet you," Spencer said relaxing now that he knew that this man hadn't been responsible for his sister's condition. "You can go and change," Spencer added looking at his sister.

"It won't take me long I'll meet you in the den in 10 minutes."

"All right," Spencer agreed kissing his sister on the cheek affectionately. "Shoo."

"Yes, big brother," Liya said sticking her tongue out at him causing Spencer to laugh.

"Go on, you brat," Spencer told her his tone gentle and affectionate.

Once Liya had disappeared Spencer turned back to his unexpected guest. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Spencer Reid, as I'm sure you've guessed by now Liya's older brother."

"Aaron Hotchner," Hotch officially introduced himself. "I work with the FBI the Behavioral Analyst Unit specifically."

The two men shook hands and the minute they touched Hotch knew. Hotch stared at Spencer for a few seconds as if transfixed. This Spencer Reid was his mate. He knew it with absolute certainty, as he felt as if a puzzle piece that he had never known he was missing snapped into place in his very soul. Hotch had been nearly certain that this man was his mate from the minute he had entered the house and Spenser's smell had hit him like a sledgehammer. He had needed a few seconds to gather himself and luckily, both Liya and her brother had been significantly distracted not to notice his rather odd behavior. He had been nearly certain that Spencer was his mate from smell alone, but the handshake confirmed it.

Spencer led the way to the den. "Can I offer you some tea or coffee?"

"Coffee, black, if it's not too much trouble," Hotch replied trying his best to act normally and not stride across the room and ravish the younger man. He had barely met this young man who was 10 years his junior and yet his rather vivid and healthy imagination kept coming up with ways to seduce him and also very sexual scenarios that were driving him absolutely crazy. Hotch had no trouble telling what Spencer looked like under his clothes and he tried his best not to go there at least for right now, as that would be a conversation for later when they were alone.

"No, no trouble as I have a feeling what Liya is going to tell me isn't going to be very pleasant to hear," Spencer said, as he rose from his seat and headed to kitchen to fix the requested coffee and also a few snacks.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"He did what!" Spencer's exclaimed looking furious. "I'll kill him and bury his bones where they'll never be found."

"Calm down, Spence," Liya urged her brother. "I took care of him and don't worry if he tries to come near me again I'll make sure he knows that he will get the same treatment, as before and that our relationship is over. I kicked him in the nuts and also punched him in the face and I wouldn't be surprised if his nose was broken."

"Still, I can't believe that he tried to force himself on you even after you told him no. I'm not naïve enough to not know that there are plenty of perverts and other types of nasty people in the world, but he seemed like such a decent bloke when I met him just a month or so ago."

"He likely is and he probably just got caught up in the heat of the moment. That happens to teenage boys especially," Hotch said. "He is only what 16?"

"17 actually," Leah said.

"There you go, most 17 boys I know have trouble knowing when to quit and even if they know that they are going to far sometimes they have trouble stopping. I'm not saying that makes it right, just that they're young and their libidos are in overdrive. By the time they get to be my age that will likely have calmed down to where they can control themselves better," Hotch said.

"I've never been like that," Spencer said.

"Every teenage boy is different, as I'm sure you know," Hotch said. "From what your sister has told me about you, you have always been serious and responsible while other boys or young men are totally different."

"Yes, that's true," Spencer admitted calming down a little. "I'm very proud of you sis, as not only did you give that boy what he deserved you actually reported it when you could've kept it to yourself and gone back to him thinking it was all a mistake." Spencer held up the hand when his sister looked ready to protest. "Yes, it's very possible that he just lost control of himself, however, on the other hand, he could be a rapist in the making or even done it to other girls before for all we know and next time even if you know how to defend yourself you might be put in a situation where you are sexually molested."

"You're right," Liya admitted grimacing even as she sat sipping her tea.

"So what I meant a minute ago was that you made them mature decision and I'm proud of you for that as I know most 16 year olds would not have been so calm about and likely snuck out to see their boyfriend even if it was forbidden, as I know most teenagers go through a rebellious stage."

Liya nodded and then asked to be excused and her brother nodded.

Liya disappeared upstairs without looking back, but she smirked to herself, as she had not been unaware of the looks that Aaron Hotchner kept shooting her brother. It was easy to tell that the older man was interested in her brother and Liya thought that was a good thing, because Spencer had never really dated much as girls never gave him a second look and it wasn't because he wasn't handsome, but because of his shyness and the fact that he was far more intelligent then any five people. Liya knew that Spencer had had several crushes while he had been in school on both male and females, but had been to shy to do anything about them. She doubted very much that any of the girls would have agreed to date him for she remembered having to defend him more then once when the other students had complained about how he outdid them in every class and she knew that Spencer hadn't been half trying or showing off on purpose. Liya along with her twin Leah had always suspected that if their brother was ever going to get involved in a serious relationship it would be with someone older, simply because he was to mature to put up with the silliness and immaturity of most people that were his age.

Liya had been sad for her brother for he had been practically a nonentity during his school years, but she had to admit that he had come into his own ever since his graduation and their parents deaths.

While the three of them had been talking, Hotch had been trying to figure out a way to tell Spencer that the two of them were meant to be together, unfortunately, he wasn't even sure that the younger man swung towards his own sex.

Well, I might as well plunge ahead as it's unlikely that I'll ever meet him again and if I waste this opportunity...It's unlikely that I'll ever get another, Hotch thought to himself.

"Spencer, I have something that I need to tell you," Hotch began trying to hide his nervousness. Normally he was very confident in just about any situation, but this was different. If Spencer rejected him he wasn't going to kill himself, but he would be extremely unhappy for what remained of his life.

"What's that?" asked Spencer looking at the older man curiously.

"Well, for one thing I'm a shapeshifter, a wolf Shifter to be precise," Hotch began and Spencer nodded saying that he understood for Shifters were quite common in the United States and had been around for centuries. No one knew where the shapeshifters had originally come from or if anybody ever had for it had been lost into the mists of history.

"What does your being a Shifter have to do with me?" asked Spencer curiously.

"What do you know about Shifters?" asked Hotch.

"Not much really," Spencer admitted after thinking about it for a few moments. "Mostly all I know is general knowledge. I know that Shifters have been around forever, but that nobody remembers where they originally came from or if they might be just a genetic anomaly. I know that there are many different kinds of Shifters, wolves, various kinds of cats, bears, and kangaroos, though those last two are rare, except in certain parts of the world. I know that wolves and lions are the most common with panthers and cheetahs being close seconds, but other than that really I don't know anything. Not very much is published about Shifters and what's out there, well, I don't know if it's either truthful and accurate or falsified and exaggerated, but really how do you know?"

Hotch took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. "Well, what you don't know is that a Shifter only has one mate, also known as the True Mate. The True Mate is identified by a combination of scent and touch and the Shifter in question can feel a pull towards their True Mate so long as they are within a hundred miles of each other and the pull gets stronger once a Shifter reaches their 30th birthday, which I just passed a few months previously. Also a Shifter's True Mate gene doesn't activate until they are 16, even if it's rare for a shifter to find the one person they are meant to be with at that age, it has been known to happen."

Spencer absorbed what he had been told and his intelligence and quick mind immediately came to the only logical conclusion.

"So you're telling me that I am your mate, is that correct?" asked Spencer.

"Yes, it is," Hotch said trying to keep his voice even and not show how nervous he really was.

"But both of us are men or does that matter?" asked Spencer genuinely curious.

"Not in the Shifter community it doesn't," Hotch assured him. "It has been well established that fairly often another Shifter's mate is the same-sex, as they are and that it could go either way. Even if you don't believe that you like your own sex before, once you meet your True Mate that proves how wrong you are. As for the regular humans or Normals as we call them, yes, some will object as a matter of principle or just because they don't believe in same-sex relationships, but if they do it doesn't really matter for those people have to obey the laws and trying to break us up just because we're the same-sex is against it. Besides, we are both adults, so people really have no grounds to object."

"They might not have any grounds to object but that doesn't mean they won't," Spencer pointed out logically, grimacing as he thought about at least some people's probable reactions. "If nothing else they'll see the difference in our ages and figure that you are taking advantage of me. That doesn't make it right or true I'm just telling you that is what people will think, some of them anyway."

"I'm well aware," Hotch told Spencer. "Just so you know however, I am very comfortable with my sexuality and those opinions won't bother me, because I know they are not in the least true. Anyway back to what we were just discussing as I was saying a few minutes ago a Shifter only has one True Mate and they often commit suicide if that mate rejects them or if they die before their time. Of course, this only happens to the Shifter and not to the mate unless they are also a Shifter."

"So would you commit suicide if I rejected you?" asked Spencer genuinely curious.

"No, as my team depends on me, but I would be extremely unhappy for the rest of my life and I would never get into a serious relationship or even a shallow one and mourn your rejection until the day I die. Once a Shifter finds their one True Mate they are unable to become attached to another in that way. I'm not saying that they can't still make friends, but romantically or sexually, well, I would for all intents and purposes become an eunuch."

Spencer winced at that, as he knew very well about most men's sexual drive and Aaron Hotchner was still quite young, especially for a Shifter, so to never have sex again when he was only thirty... Finally Spencer had an inspiration and he immediately understood what the older man had indirectly been saying. Aaron was saying that if he, Spencer Reid rejected him it would be like having his heart broken and he knew many people never recovered from that or got involved in any sort of relationship again.

Spencer had never imagined finding himself in such a situation as the one he was currently in and was sad to say that even at 20 years of age he was still a virgin. He had secretly despaired of ever getting rid of that particular moniker, even if he was the only one that knew it, but it looked like it might happen in the near future. However, he was not going to go straight to bed with this man as he was one of those people that needed to get to know someone first, which was why he was still a virgin even at 20, as a lot of young people and even older ones wanted to hop into bed right away, but he could see himself falling for Aaron Hotchner very easily, given sufficient time in his company.

Finally Spencer reached a decision and said, "I'll tell you what I'll do. I won't reject you out of hand, but..." Spencer paused.

"But what?" asked Hotch trying to conceal his anxiety.

"But I won't go to bed with you right this minute as I'm one of those people that needs to get to know someone before I reach such a decision. I hope you understand that I'm not saying that sex is completely out, as I won't object if you want to kiss me or hold me or even if we makeout heavily, however, there will be no full blown sex until we get to know each other. Yes, you have a True Mate Bond with me, but I don't with you since I am not a Shifter. Now I'm assuming that because of the bond that you say you have makes you immediately want to have sex with me and that your feelings for me are already those associated with love."

"Yes, they are," Hotch confirmed, "and yes, I do want to take you to bed to show you how much I already do love you, but I also understand where you're coming from and so I'll wait until you tell me that you are ready for that stage of our relationship. I'm not saying it will be easy, but you'll soon learn that I am one of the most stubborn people on the planet and I have an will of iron."

"Alright then," Spencer said softly with a small smile playing on his lips suddenly happier then he had been in a very long time.

"There are many things that we need to discuss however," Hotch added, as he got up from his chair and moved to sit on the couch to be closer to his mate, as he had been given tacit permission to touch Spencer anywhere if he wanted to so long as full-blown lovemaking wasn't on the menu for the moment. The wolf in his chest disagreed violently with that decision wanting to take his mate immediately to bed and leave him with a permanent hickey one that would tell other Shifters to back off that the young man was claimed.

We cannot force ourselves on him as that would be just as bad as what that boy tried to do to his sister, Hotch told the wolf in him silently, but firmly.

The wolf subsided unhappily, but knew that his other half was right and his mate just needed a little time.

"What do we need to discuss?" asked Spencer with a raised eyebrow not objecting when Hotch moved from the chair he had been sitting in to sit beside him on the couch and immediately placing a hand on his bare arm. Spencer blushed a bright red for Aaron Hotchner's touch felt absolutely wonderful and he was welcome to keep his hand right where it was all day or all night for that matter. For some reason Aaron's touch felt absolutely perfect and so right. Spencer assumed that it had to do with the bond that Aaron had said he had with him, but what didn't make sense was why he felt that Aaron's touch was so utterly perfect, because it was the older man that had the True Mate Bond and not him, yet it did.

Hotch noticed Spencer's reaction and the wolf in his chest was absurdly pleased to know that his mate was attracted to him, as that would make their new relationship hopefully, move along faster and the faster the better.

"I just need to tell you that with my job I'm going to be gone a lot and this is not a reflection on you, just that the BAU travels a lot for their work and usually we are not gone more than a few days at a time, but there have been cases that have lasted a week or more although that doesn't happen very often. I'm hoping you can accept this or our relationship is over before it's even begun and that would devastate me."

"No, our relationship isn't over as I can understand you being devoted to your job," Spencer promised him making a bold move and kissing Hotch's cheek, which pleased the older man immensely. "It's actually nice to meet someone who has a decent work ethic as most of the people I went to school with were incredibly lazy. I'm not saying I won't miss you when you're gone, but we can keep in contact through text messages and phone calls."

Hotch nodded breathing a silent sigh of relief that Spencer was being so accommodating.

"Besides, if you must know I tend the work a lot myself and some of my shifts are 16 hours long, but then I also tend to work two shifts back to back because I didn't really have anything else to do, but I don't have to do that anymore with you in my life. I'm not saying that some of my future work days won't be a incredibly long and demanding, but I can cut back now, as my employers know what kind of worker I am and they'll understand that I've met someone that I want to spend time with, since most of them are considerably older than I am and married. Besides, it isn't like I need the money since the Reids are incredibly wealthy and in fact we wouldn't need to work at all if my parents hadn't taught all their children that working at a job you love is better than being a bored aristocrat. My mother in particular always told us that you have brains and you need to use them and not to cause trouble. She said you are more likely to never get in trouble with the law if you had a job you're happy with instead of sitting around home thinking about what was wrong with the world and blaming other people for all your problems. She often told me and my twin sisters that we would be much happier with ourselves in good careers and therefore, happier with humanity in general."

"Your mother sounds like an intelligent lady," Hotch said impressed.

"Oh, trust me she was," Spencer said with a small smile. "Her and dad were very happy together until her death in a car crash when I was 17."

"So your sister was telling me on the drive here," Hotch said, unconsciously moving his hand up and down his mate's arm.

"So when would you like to have our first date?" Spencer asked shyly.

"Well, it's too late tonight to even think about it, so how about tomorrow as it is Saturday and since the team isn't already out of town on the case we automatically have it off. We aren't ever called in on the weekends, unless it's something like a child abduction, since time is critical in those cases or a lot of people have been killed in a short amount of time, so we should have a lot of weekends together."

"Alright," Spencer agreed immediately. "I took the summer off to spend with my siblings and I've been doing this ever since our parents passed away."

"So Liya was telling me," Hotch said with a smile. "So when do I get to meet your brothers and sisters?"

"Probably tomorrow," Spencer said, "as it's already way past Hudson's and Bronwyn's bedtime since they are only ten. Liya and Leah of course, don't have a set bedtime since they are 16, and Chance and Andrew have a set bedtime of eleven o'clock as they are both fourteen and so does Natalie who is a year younger at thirteen."

"Three sets of twins?" Hotch asked in astonishment. He wouldn't have been so astonished had one of Spencer's parents been a Shifter, but neither of them were which is why it was so flabbergasting. Hotch didn't claim that it couldn't happen since it was of course, possible, just that it was such an unusual event.

Spencer shrugged nonchalantly and said, "My family has been known to produce multiple sets of twins in the past. It seems to be kind of the family legacy you know? It doesn't happen every generation of course, but more often than not it does and most Potters have at least one set of twins. Our family history is rather well-documented and other members of our family have kept it current and up to date and there's only been a few times in at least the last 600 years that a female Potter hasn't produced at least one set of twins and it's usually more. None of my twin siblings are identical and it is very possible to produce more than one set of fraternal twins per generation, since it has to do with a woman's ovulation. I'm not saying it's very a common thing, but it just seems that the Potters have been lucky in that respect."

"So you're saying about having twins come from your mother's side of the family then?" asked Hotch and Spencer nodded.

Hotch didn't bother to mention at least at the moment that multiples also ran in Shifters families quite frequently simply because they were a great deal like their animal counterpart at least in that way. Of course, twins along with triplets and quadruplets quite frequently happened when the pair were True Mates and not so much when a Shifter only married so they wouldn't be lonely. Of course, almost all female Shifters had at least twins whether they were married to another Shifter or a Normal, but with the male it wasn't as common if they were married to a Normal and not one of their own kind. However, with Spencer being male pups born naturally were out of the question, although they could always adopt, but that was a discussion he would have with his mate at a later date. Hotch admitted that he did want pups someday, even if that was five or six years in the future and through adoption.

"Are you sure that you don't have Shifter blood somewhere in your family tree within just a few generations?" Hotch asked half teasingly, half seriously finally voicing what he had been thinking about a minute ago. "Shifters are well-known for producing more multiples per pregnancy no matter the species and a wolf like me, well if I was female that is, have been known to have anywhere from 2 to 6 pups at one time. Of course, multiples are more common if both are Shifters and also True Mates, but it has been known to happen when the male is not a Shifter just so long as the female is. Of course, a female Normal and a male Shifter have been known to produce multiples as well, but it's just not as common."

"Actually my family on both the Potter and Reid side have known to marry Shifters in the past, although not for a couple hundred years for one and sixty-five or so years for the other. Well, at least as far as I know it didn't happen or if it did it wasn't written down."

Of course, it could have been erased from the records, Spencer admitted to himself, as purebloods tended to be vindictive and if one of their family did something they disliked or disapproved of they were erased from the family as if they had never existed and disowned. Of course, from what he knew of the Potters this had never happened before, since they tended to love their children and didn't believe in the pureblooded crap of keeping their families pure and that meant only marrying other purebloods, even if they were your cousins. Of course, here in America most purebloods weren't as inbred as the ones he had heard over England were, but there were still some families that believed they should only marry other purebloods and that meant a wizarding family that went back at least four generations with no muggles or squibs on their family tree and for some of the snottier pureblood families their lines had to go back at least six generation in order to be deemed acceptable to marry their child.

Spencer realized that if his and Aaron's relationship did reach the level where it got serious he would have to inform the older man of a few things before they actually took it to the next level. He doubted very much that he would be rejected out of hand once Aaron revealed that he and his entire family were witches and wizards and had been for as far back as there had been Potters.

"Well, that's not too far back really and if the Potters at least have been producing twins for 600 or more years the Shifter blood probably helped at least for the last couple hundred years, but it's really not the whole answer."

Spencer shrugged and said, "It doesn't really matter, at least to me. My family has always considered it a gift, one we don't question since most of us love children anyway and this enables us to have the large families that we desire without our spouses getting pregnant more then a few times. As I said earlier most Potters usually have at least ten to fifteen children, even in this day and age. Of course, this is not always true, but for the most part it is, especially if the child was originally a Potter before she married."

"If the Potters usually have such large families how come you and your siblings are the last surviving branch or at least you are according to your sister."

"Well, my sister has never studied the Potter history in-depth like I have, since it's always fascinated me and she definitely doesn't have my eidetic memory. However, she is mostly correct that we are the last surviving branch that I know about anyway. It is more than possible that there're more families out there with the Potter blood just not with the last name anymore, just like me and my siblings. Our family is originally from England, although my ancestor moved here to America many centuries ago now. For all I know I might still have relatives in England, as our branch of the family wanted to get out on their own and away from conservative and stodgy old Britain. Also it's very possible that there are other Potters that are related to us in other cities as children grow up and move, but although our branch of the family is originally from Las Vegas, there were no other Potters that I know of in the city at least not ones related to my family. My grandparents on the Potter side of the family were rather unusual that they only had three children a girl and two boys. One of my uncles died before he was grown up, so he never had a chance to get married and have a family of his own and the other one died as an infant."

"I had better get home as it's quite late now," Hotch said looking at his watch, noting the time, but not really wanting to leave his mate for even a few hours and he knew it would take every ounce of willpower he possessed to get out of here without throwing his mate over his shoulder and taking him to bed, whether or not he was ready.

"Yes, you're right," Spencer admitted looking at his very modern watch. "I need to get some sleep myself, as I have two siblings who are early risers and they usually make enough noise to wake the dead. I usually manage to go back to sleep and they know better than to bother me unless it's an emergency, but still I had better head up to bed."

Of course, Spencer didn't mention how he usually wrapped his room in a silencing spell, so that he could sleep in peace, but there had been a time or two that he had forgotten to do that and it did wear off.

"I'll call you tomorrow," Hotch promised.

"You had better make it noon or later," Spencer told him with a smile, "as I'm planning to sleep in if at all possible."

"All right," Hotch agreed kissing his mate on the cheek, although he really wanted it to be his lips instead. "I'm so glad I met you," Hotch added his tone reverent, as he kissed the top of his mate's head inhaling the masculine scent of his shampoo and imprinting it into his memory. "I knew you were somewhere in the city, thanks to the link, but I knew that it would be nearly impossible to find you, except by the sheerest luck considering that a hundred miles in all directions covers a great deal of territory."

"And has thousands, even tens of thousands of people," Spencer added and Hotch nodded.

"Believe me, I know it," Hotch said, "and I realize that I'm a lucky son of a bitch and that it was fate that brought us together."

"I'm glad it happened to," Spencer told him with a smile. "I'll show you out. Make sure you're careful driving home, since it's quite late and I know you're tired. I wouldn't want you to get into an accident just because you fell asleep at the wheel."

"I will be," Hotch promised genuinely touched at his mate's concern.

Spencer rose from the couch and with Hotch beside him escorted the older man to the front door and gave him a kiss on the cheek as a goodbye.

"Remember to call me after noon so we can set the time for our date," Spencer reminded Hotch.

"I will," Hotch promised. "Believe me, I'm eager to get to know more about you, but if I don't get out of here I'm going to throw you over my shoulder and take you to bed despite my best intentions."

"If our relationship progresses the way I hope it will you'll soon have that privilege and I promise you when that time comes I not only won't object, but will in fact eagerly participate," Spencer promised silkily feeling very bold, as he ran just one finger gently up and down Hotch's inner thigh on top of his pants right near his crotch.

Hotch groaned with desire and wretched open the front door stepping outside before all his good intentions went out the window.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Hotch promised his mate huskily grabbing Spencer roughly around the middle, pulling him as close as possible and kissing him one final time before he forced himself to walk towards his car, get into the driver's side and start the engine.

Spencer watched as Hotch backed out of the driveway and drove away and realized suddenly that his life had just gone from normal, where he knew what he would be doing every day to very interesting, even exciting for the first time in years and so he admitted if only to himself that he was looking forward to getting to know Aaron Hotchner better. Hopefully, he and Aaron were on their way to the beginnings of a very satisfying and thrilling relationship, one that would change both their lives for the better.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	2. Chapter 2

Hotch arrived on Spencer's doorstep and rang the doorbell.

As he waited for the door to be answered he thought back to the very intense sexual dreams he'd had the previous night and nearly groaned out loud as he remembered the intense desire and the state his body had been in when he had woken up.

He had woken up with a hard-on that was so painful that it had taken over half an hour and a very cold shower for it too go back to normal. He realized that he and Spencer had just met, but he wanted to make love to his mate so badly that it was driving him absolutely crazy and usually he was a very patient man, but when it came to his mate it was a totally different story altogether. He had known, in theory anyway, that these feelings of intense desire would happen the minute he met his mate and boy had the old man, who was also a Shifter and been happily married for many years, who had told him these things before he went to college been right. Hotch didn't like to remember most of his childhood for it had been abusive in the extreme. His parents hadn't exactly been the warm cuddly types, so he and his siblings had suffered extreme neglect, but his mother had been known to hit him and also his brothers and sisters when she felt they had done something wrong and her definition of wrong was so skewered that it was an unusual day that either he or one of his siblings didn't get hit at least once, though it was usually more then that.

If he was going to have such intense dreams every night until he and his mate actually made love Hotch know it was likely going to be months of frustration. However, he knew that frustration would be worth it in the end and he was determined to wait until Spencer told him that he was ready to take their relationship to the next level, which hopefully, wouldn't be to long. Hotch could certainly understand that his mate needed a month or two in order to get to know him better before he consented to share his body, because even though he was more than ready to make love to Spencer Reid he knew that the younger man wasn't, because the two of them had just met. The reason he was ready to make love, even though he had just met the other man was because he had been raised a Shifter and had a Shifter's instincts and male wolf Shifters in particular were known to be rather aggressive and impatient, especially when it came to making love to their other halves and therefore, they had trouble waiting, so even though his instincts were screaming at him he wouldn't risk his barely budding relationship, although if Spencer had been a Shifter he would have felt the nearly irresistible pull of the True Mate Bond as well and the two of them would already have made love all throughout the previous night as his mate would've immediately understand that the bond meant that they were made for each other.

Suddenly Hotch was pulled out of his thoughts as the door was flung open.

"Hey!" Spencer greeted his mate enthusiastically causing Hotch to smile warmly at the younger man and step inside. "I'm so happy to see you."

"And I you," Hotch told the other man his voice a silky and sexy growl causing Spencer to flush and for the sudden intense desire his body produced to go straight to his groin.

Hotch held open his arms for the younger man and Spencer immediately walked into the tender and gentle embrace, reveling in the other man's intense body heat and also the loving way the other man's arms closed around his slim form holding him protectively, but gently and tenderly.

The two of them stood there for a few minutes exchanging a few gentle and tender kisses, that held the hint of so much more to come that it nearly caused both of them to groan with lust and desire and attack each other, right there.

"Let me introduce you to rest of my siblings before we get going," Spencer suggested finally, although it was pure torture to wretch himself away from Aaron's arms and also his loving embrace.

Why did he feel so close to this man already since the two of them had only just met last night? Spencer asked himself. When he had finally fallen asleep the previous night his dreams had been so intense and very sensual that he had woken up with a hard-on that was so painful that he had taken quite a lot of time in the cold water of a shower in order to get rid of it. His dreams had been intensely sexual as his brain had imagined what it would feel like for Aaron Hotchner to enter his body for the first time, which he was sure would pale in comparison to the reality. He had never realized that he had such a vivid imagination for he'd had no trouble imagining what Aaron looked like under his clothes or that having sex with him for the first time and many times after that would be some of the best experiences of his life. He had a feeling that once he and Aaron made love for the first time that neither one of them would want to leave the bed for a month or more, even if they knew they must.

Hotch nodded trying not to smirk for he had not missed the way that his mate flushed with desire or the way that he'd practically had to force himself to leave his embrace and this made him think that there was indeed hope that he would be able to take their relationship to the next level sometime in the very near future as he didn't know how long he was going to be able to resist making love to the younger man or actually fucking him senseless.

Spencer led Hotch into the den and as soon as the older man was settled in one of the comfortable chairs that were dotted around the room Spencer headed upstairs to get his siblings.

It was only five minutes later when Spencer came back downstairs trailed by all seven of his brothers and sisters.

"Guys, I would like to meet Aaron Hotchner, Aaron this is my family. You've already met Liya, but this is her twin sister Leah."

Hotch studied the two girls thinking that they might have been twins, but it wasn't really obvious because beside the general facial features and body types that made them sisters they looked nothing alike as they were even vastly different heights.

Liya had black hair cut short to where it barely reached her shoulders and her eyes were a warm golden brown like her brother's, Leah on the other hand, had brown hair like Spencer did, but considerably longer then her sister's, but her eyes were blue. Also Leah was several inches taller then her sister at 6 feet, while Liya was only maybe 5'4' or 5'5'

Unless you knew that the two were twins you would tell everybody you met that the two girls were sisters, but not twins, because they looked so different from each other.

"Next is Andrew and Chance who as I told you the other night are 14," Spencer introduced.

Hotch studied the two and thought they looked more alike then their twin sisters did, as both had Spencer's brown hair, except curly and the same facial features, body types and were even the same height. Really the only difference was that one had blue eyes and the other golden brown.

"This is Natalie, the only single child my parent's had besides, me," Spencer said introducing a beautiful girl of 13 with black hair like one of her twin sisters and beautiful brown eyes that were just a couple of shades darker then her siblings golden brown. "And finally we have Bronwyn and Hudson who are 10."

The boy and girl twins also looked very similar to each other, except for the obvious difference of them being the opposite sex. In fact if the two of them had been the same sex they would have been considered identical for they had the same black hair as two of their other siblings and also the golden brown eyes, as well as being the same height.

"It's nice to meet you all," Hotch told Spencer's siblings.

"It's nice to meet you to," Leah said. "Thank you for what you did for my sister. If not for you that situation with Alex probably would have turned out much worse."

"You're welcome," Hotch said, "but I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and I couldn't not step in."

"You didn't actually have to interfere you know you could have just driven away. We're all grateful that you were the exception, but most people wouldn't have wanted to get involved," Hudson said.

"You're right," Hotch admitted, "but even if I didn't work for the FBI I still would have gotten involved, even if most people would have just ignored the situation."

All of Spencer's siblings decided after a few minutes of conversation that they liked Aaron Hotchner a lot and they sincerely hoped that his and their brother's relationship went somewhere, and perhaps, even turned permanent. They all knew that their brother must be lonely since he had never dated, although he had never said so, especially since they were in school for nine months of the year, even though the two youngest of them hadn't even started school yet and wouldn't until this coming term.

"We had better get going," Hotch said finally, "or we are going to miss our reservations."

"Don't come home early on our account," Leah told her brother with knowing smile causing Spencer to blush a bright red and Hotch to smirk.

"Yeah, we'll look after everyone, so don't worry about us and just enjoy yourselves. We do have your phone number and can contact you if we have any problems," Liya added with a smirk.

"I'll see you lot in the morning," Spencer said with a smile, as he took his mate's hand and pulled him towards the front door, Hotch following willingly.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"So where are we going?" Spencer asked.

"I got us a reservation at a very nice restaurant on short notice," Hotch replied. "The owner owed me a favor because I won to case for him back when I was a federal prosecutor a few years back. I told him that after this his debt is paid in full."

"So if you were a federal prosecutor why did you suddenly join the FBI?" asked Spencer.

"Well, I became a lawyer, because my father was one and I thought that was what I wanted, but after just a couple of years of winning most of my cases I found out it wasn't really for me. I didn't like defending the guilty and I was doing that more often then helping innocent people who had been severely wronged. It was a conscious decision that I wanted to help other people who had been hurt for no other reason than they had something that somebody else wanted or just because. I knew that there were a lot of evil people in the world that would hurt someone who had never done anything to them for no other reason than because they could and I wanted to be one of the ones catching those types of people and putting them in prison for a very long time, so in that respect my degree as an attorney is not wasted as I know what it takes to get warrants and what kind of evidence makes a case. In any case, I graduated from the FBI Academy and spent a couple of years in another department to gain experience before I was placed in the BAU. I've only been with my current unit for a couple of years now, but I've done more good in those two years then I ever did as a federal prosecutor."

"So you just needed a change?" Spencer said and Hotch nodded, as he concentrated on the road. "I can certainly understand that, as me and my siblings grew up in Las Vegas after all and the house we're living in now was kind of a vacation home where my ancestors spent a considerable amount of time. I remember when my family visited when I was young, almost every summer actually and how it felt good to get out of Las Vegas, because of the heat in the summer."

"You have some very unusual names in your family as Chance, Bronwyn and Liya aren't exactly common," Hotch commented.

"Well, that's because of my parents," Spencer explained. "My father William Reid liked nice normal names like Andrew, Natalie, Leah and Hudson, but my mother preferred unusual names like Liya, Bronwyn, Chance and my own Spencer. A couple of the names my mother came up with are from authors of her favorite books as like me she loved to read just about anything, and as for Andrew, Natalie, Leah and Hudson, most of those are family names from the Reid side. My parents agreed when their first set of twins was born that they would each choose a name. As you can tell my mother named four of us and my father named four."

Reid shrugged as if to say that's just the way it was.

"So your mother named you. I mean Spencer is pretty uncommon, although not as much as Chance," Hotch commented.

"Yeah, she did, as I was named after one of her all-time favorite authors," Reid said, "and so was Bronwyn, but as for the other two she just liked the names."

"So why did you come to Virginia instead of staying in Vegas?" asked Hotch.

"Well, like you, I and my siblings needed a change and all of them agreed that getting out of the house that we had grown up in and had so many happy memories of our parents was a good thing. Staying in the same house would just have depressed us and we all needed a change of scenery after our father's funeral. When I mentioned the house in Virginia we all agreed that it was a good idea to move here for a fresh start. It was the right decision for all of us were getting depressed, my younger siblings in particular and now they're practically back to how they were before our parents deaths. I'm not saying that there haven't been some changes, for how could there not be after all as a loved one's death always changes the people they were close to, sometimes for the better, sometimes not."

While the story Spencer had told Hotch was true it wasn't the whole of it, but that would have to wait until they got to know each other better before he revealed the Reids magical heritage.

Hotch agreed once he had heard why Spencer and his siblings had moved to Virginia and he was glad that it had happened for the two of them might never have met otherwise, as the odds would have been astronomical if the Reids hadn't moved to Virginia.

"In any case, we've been much happier in the house in Virginia then we were in Las Vegas once our parents had passed away, because there aren't so many memories and the memories there are in that house are mostly happy ones."

The two of them continued to chat learning more about each other as Hotch drove and it wasn't long before they reached the restaurant where the older man had made a reservation.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Several days later

Hotch panted heavily, his arms around his mate's slimly muscled form, holding him close as the two of them kissed, their tongues battling each other. Hotch knew distantly that they needed to stop for he was losing his control more rapidly then he would like, and he knew that if they didn't stop very soon and then he was going to throw the younger man over his shoulder and take him to bed whether he was ready for that or not.

The wolf and his chest whined in protest and wanted to continue to ravage his mate to kiss him for all he was worth, but Hotch's sense of right and wrong wrestled with his animal self and finally managed to wrench himself away from his mate.

This little makeout session had started innocently enough as the two of them had been watching a movie when Spencer had laid his head against his shoulder, his arm had come up automatically to encircle the younger man's waist. It hadn't been long after that, that the two of them were ignoring the movie and kissing each other, which had started out innocently enough at first, but had rapidly spiraled out-of-control, until the two of them had given into their intense feelings and attacked each other with their mouths and their tongues and their teeth. Normally, Hotch had no trouble controlling his rather healthy libido, but it had taken every ounce of willpower he possessed to break away from his mate before they reached the point of no return, which had been very close and way closer than he liked. The bond between them was already so intense that Hotch was surprised that Spencer couldn't feel it and that was part of the problem, as it was the wolf in him who was urging him to complete the bond that was between the two of them. The wolf in him was getting rather impatient and while he couldn't blame that part of him at all he know that if he didn't wait for Spencer's permission that it would be rape and not consensual between two adults, which he would never do, no matter how much he wanted to throw the younger man over his shoulder and take him to bed and have his wicked way with him he knew he could not, not without the younger man's permission. After he was done ravishing his mate's body he knew that Spencer would never want anybody else or even think about anybody in that way except for him. He intended to give his mate such an intense sexual experience, his first at the hands of another, as his mate had admitted that she was virgin, that Spencer would crave his touch constantly and would have no problem spending days in bed.

Now while Hotch had never seen his mate naked, he had no trouble imagining what Spencer looked like under his clothes and knew that he would enjoy licking every single part of his mate's body, as well as leaving little bite marks, which unfortunately, would fade after a couple of weeks, but would soon be replaced if he had any say in the matter. Inwardly Hotch was very pleased at his mate's reactions and how he was still breathing rather heavily, which meant that Spencer was not as indifferent to his advances as he had feared. Of course, he knew very well that his mate was bisexual, which meant absolutely nothing unless Spencer found him attractive, which was apparently the case if the way he had reacted to their makeout session was any indication, not to mention the other times he had noticed that his mate was indeed attracted to him, which he took as a very good sign. Spencer's rather intense panting and glazed look gave Hotch hope that soon he would be allowed to take his mate too bed and complete the bond. For that pleasure and the intense sexual release he knew it would bring he could wait an eternity, even if the wolf in him violently disagreed with that thought.

"Whoah! That was intense," Spencer panted, as he leaned against the back of the sofa trying to regain his breath and watched his mate through hooded eyes as Aaron did the same.

"Yes, it was," Hotch agreed as calmly as possible, although at the moment all he and the wolf in him wanted to do was attack his mate again and take him upstairs so he could make love to him for days on end, but unfortunately, he was going to have to wait until his, Spencer indicated that he was ready for that step, which could be months from now and though he usually had a will of iron and endless patience Hotch wasn't sure that he could last that long, simply because he craved his mate so intensely, that it was very hard to resist just making love to him, but he would until it was time to let go of his control completely. "I can honestly say if I hadn't managed to wrench myself away from you just now we would even now be laying in your bed or at least naked here on the couch and I would be making love to you, as I was losing more control than I would have liked."

Spencer blushed at that, but he knew that Aaron was being very sincere and that made him feel all warm and good inside a feeling that he wasn't very familiar with, but could learn to like it a lot and very quickly.

"Normally, I have a will of iron and have no trouble controlling myself when it comes to having sex, but with you it is very different and just being close to you is enough to make me crave you intensely," Hotch told the younger man watched as he blushed again.

Spencer blushed easily it seemed and it was a fact that Hotch hoped would always be true, because he found it particularly endearing, at how his mate was so easily embarrassed.

"You make me feel things that I've never felt before," Spencer admitted shyly. "I've never felt such intense feelings in all my life, as I'm usually the type of person that is very calm and controlled when it comes to my emotions. You however, have no trouble making me lose my normal calmness and you can get under my guard far faster than anybody else has ever been able to do, which I'm not saying is a bad thing and in fact it could turn out to be a very good thing."

Hotch said nothing simply held out his arms in invitation and Spencer immediately scooted over until Aaron's arms were around him tenderly and protectively, making him feel loved, warm and safe. Hotch kissed Spencer on the forehead not daring to kiss him on the lips, just yet because he knew he would lose his control completely if he did

"I will love you for the rest of my life," Hotch told his mate softly being completely forthright and totally honest. "Even if you were to throw me out because you say you aren't in love with me I will never be able to love another. I'm not going to beg for you to decide in my favor and although it's killing me I will give you the time you need to make a decision on your own even if that takes you the next six months."

"I don't believe it will be that long," Spencer told Hotch quietly kissing his cheek. "In fact I know it won't be that long, because I've already started to develop feelings for you and I just need time to sort them out before we go any farther in our relationship."

Hotch immediately brightened at that, but simply kissed his mate on his forehead again to let him know that he understood and would give him all the time that he required to sort out his feelings. Hotch knew that his mate was a virgin and had never been in love before, not a romantic love anyway, so he wasn't sure what it truly felt like, so he knew that it would take his mate time to truly understand that he was falling in love and he would give Spencer that time, no matter how much the wolf in his chest protested.

"Can I see your wolf form?" Spencer asked suddenly lifting his head from where he'd had it buried in Hotch's neck.

"Of course, but why did you suddenly bring it up now?" asked Hotch curiously. "It's not that I mind showing you my wolf form and in fact I enjoy changing on a regular basis and running through the woods when I have time."

"Well, I've never seen a Shifter change shape before," Spencer admitted blush and shyly. "I've always found Shifters fascinating, but I've never been close enough to one ask them to change forms for me so I can see the process."

Ah, Hotch thought, that explained it. It was Spencer's scientific curiosity taking over. Well, he would be happy to comply with his mate's request in this and one of the reasons was because he would have to undress completely before he changed and he was anxious to see his mate's reaction to his totally naked body before he turned into a wolf. It was only right that he warned Spencer however, even if his mate decided that he wasn't ready to see him naked.

"You realize I'll have to undress completely?" Hotch warned his mate who nodded blushing again.

"I know," Spencer said a little shyly, but looking directly into Hotch's brown eyes, as he replied, "but if we're going to be in a permanent relationship then I need to get used to seeing your naked body anyway and this seems like a good place to start."

Hotch immediately perked up at his mate's words, as he knew with that that statement that Spencer and him were indeed going to be together forever, and that his mate just needed a little time to sort out his feelings and truly realize that he was in love and that it wasn't just to crush that he was developing. Spencer just needed time to realize that he had meant what he said about loving him and that nothing was going to change his feeling no matter what.

"Alright then," Hotch said immediately getting up off the sofa where he immediately started stripping himself of his clothes. Soon his shirt, then his pants, socks and shoes were on the floor and all that was left was his underwear.

Hotch stood there for a long moment and couldn't help how his cock stood even more at attention as Spencer gazed at his broad well-muscled chest obviously pleased with what he was seeing if his blush was any indication.

"You're welcome to touch me anywhere you like," Hotch offered and Spencer's blush intensified, which Hotch hadn't believed was possible, since his mate was already as red as a tomato.

Spencer rose from the couch where he was sitting and slowly walked forward his gaze never leaving Hotch's well muscled chest.

Finally after what seemed like forever, but was really less than a minute Spencer reached out a hand and touched Hotch's chest, feeling the very well defined muscles that made him almost drool. He had never admitted to anyone but he had always had a thing for a man's well muscled chest and Aaron had a very fine one, which he wouldn't mind licking and nipping his way down and he'd had intense sexual dreams the last few days of doing that very thing until he reached the ultimate prize, the older man's cock, which he was sure was much bigger and more defined then his own, considering the size of the rest of him.

Aaron also had a washboard stomach that showed Spencer that he took pains to keep in shape, since you definitely didn't get one if you didn't exercise.

"Like what you see?" Hotch asked with a smirk.

"Oh, yes," Spencer breathed out so quietly that Hotch barely heard him, even with his enhanced wolf hearing.

"Good, but now I had better change or we are going to be making love right here on the floor," Hotch told him roughly giving Spencer a quick, rough, demanding kiss on the lips before forcing himself to step away.

Hotch removed his underwear in one swift motion and Spencer couldn't help letting his eyes move downwards until he was staring at Aaron's long, thick, well defined cock, which he somehow knew would feel absolutely heavenly once it was inserted into his body as the friction alone...

Spencer's eyes nearly rolled back in his head at that thought, but he managed to stop himself from reacting so visibly

Spencer watched as Aaron swiftly changed forms and observed how it was his arms, legs, chest and really his whole body that started develop fur first, which was all black the same color as Aaron's hair, and then how his feet begin to develop into paws as did his hands, how his face started to change into a snout and his eyes changed from their normal warm brown hue to yellow.

Finally after what was less than a minute later a large black wolf stood on all for paws shaking himself and then just looking at the man standing in front of him staring at him in fascination.

Finally the wolf whined plaintively, as if asking are you okay and when he did Spencer shook himself and slowly stepped forward a few paces at a time until he was mere inches away.

"Can I touch you?" Spencer asked quietly.

The black wolf moved forward a few steps and although he was quite large Spencer was not afraid, so stayed where he was and allowed the wolf to approach him, since he knew very well that the wolf was actually one Aaron Hotchner.

Finally the wolf's head butted against his hand and Spencer took that as permission it was began to scratch behind the wolf's neck vigorously. "Your fur is so stiff and bristly on top, but soft and fine underneath, just like a real wolf's is, which I suppose makes sense in retrospect," Spencer said after a few moments of scratching.

Hotch butted his head against Spencer's hand again, as if encouraging is mate to keep scratching, which felt absolutely wonderful and made his eyes cross in pleasure.

"You are absolutely gorgeous, did you know that?" Spencer told the wolf softly.

He could allow his mate to scratch him all day, but saw how Spencer was examining his body with open curiosity and Hotch knew that his mate was comparing his wolf form to that of a real one. In most ways Shifter wolves were exactly the same as their animal counterpart or at least they were while they were in this form, although there were a few differences.

Finally the wolf that was Hotch stepped away and Spencer took that as his cue to standup and watch as the wolf swiftly changed and started to develop human legs, arms, hands and feet, bones breaking at the joints and then reforming. Spencer watched how the wolf's fur disappeared and how his snout receded and started to turn back into a human one. Finally less then a minute later, Hotch was again standing before his mate in his human form. Of course, he was also completely naked.

Spencer blushed, as he gazed at Aaron's naked form, but finally looked away and requested, "Would you mind getting dressed and then I have so many questions and you being naked is a very big distraction."

Hotch did as he was asked without comment, although he would have preferred to stay buck naked, just so he could continue to watch his mate's reaction at his body, but he knew that there would be plenty of time for that kind of thing later once the two of them had fully bonded.

"So what kind of questions do you have for me?" asked Hotch, as he sat back down in his previous spot on the couch with Spencer joining him a minute later.

Spencer look directly into Hotch's face and said, "Well, I was wondering if changing into your wolf form was painful. It didn't look like it was, but then you never know unless you ask."

Hotch was surprised at the question, although he knew he shouldn't have been, since his mate was a very gentle and compassionate man, although he had a temper just like everybody did. In the few days they had known each other he hadn't seen Spencer lose his temper once, except when he had learned what had really happened to his sister, which Hotch thought was perfectly understandable, as he would have felt the same way if it had been one of his sisters.

"No, it's not painful at all," Hotch promised him kissing his mate on the cheek. "Its so swift that you really don't have time to feel anything, well, except the fur itches like crazy when it comes in, but that only lasts for a few seconds and so it is bearable."

"I'm glad," Spencer said, "as I don't think I could bear to see you in pain every time you changed forms. I would like to let you know that I don't mind if you change into your wolf form frequently, even if you are just padding around the house, since I think you are absolutely breathtaking and the most magnificent thing I have ever seen in my life."

"Thank you, for the compliment," Hotch said with a wide smile glad to know that his mate accepted all of him, including his wolf form, not that he had expected anything else, but it was still good to know and made him fall even more in love with Spencer Reid then he had been before, even if he hadn't believed that was possible.

"It might be a compliment, but it's also nothing but the absolute truth," Spencer told Hotch kissing him on the cheek.

"I do like to change frequently and I fall asleep on the couch in my apartment a lot in my wolf form," Hotch said.

"Well, you're welcome to do that here, since it won't be any trouble to clean up the shed fur," Spencer told him kissing Hotch on the lips briefly in what was really no more then a peck, but still it sent intense lust and desire through Hotch's form and he had no idea how he was going to last until his mate gave him the go-ahead to make love to him.

"I had better go, it's getting late," Hotch said, "and unfortunately, I have to go into work tomorrow."

"I'll show you out and I'll see you tomorrow unless you text me that you'll be out of town," Spencer said, as he rose from the sofa and began to walk towards the front door Hotch following. It was indeed late and all Hotch really wanted to do was stay the entire night, but knew it wasn't a good idea, as he wouldn't be able to stop himself from taking Spencer to bed whether the younger man was ready or not, so it was just better to leave to prevent that from occurring. At least that was what he kept telling himself as his mate escorted him to the front door.

"I'll probably see you tomorrow," Hotch told a younger man who nodded.

"I'll be waiting," Spencer promised him opening the front door and waited for Hotch to walk outside before closing it firmly behind him.

Once the other man was gone Spencer leaned his back against the front door and wondered how he had fallen in love with Aaron Hotchner so quickly.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Aaron, I realize that we've only known each other for a few weeks, but I want you to know that I'm ready to take our relationship to the next level and make it a permanent one," Spencer announced suddenly in a quiet tone of voice.

Hotch stared at him in astonishment for he had not been expecting Spencer's quiet words as he figured it would be at least another month or so before the two of them made love. Hotch knew that he had been extremely lucky the last couple of weeks as the team had only been called on one case and that one had been local, so he had been able to be home each night and spend more time with Spencer, even if it was extremely late. Spencer had already made it clear that he was welcome here at any hour and that he could always sleep in the next day since he wasn't working at the moment and wouldn't be until all his siblings went back to school in a few weeks.

"Are you sure?" asked Hotch taking a younger man into his arms and kissing him passionately. "Believe me, I would like nothing more, but it's only been a little over two weeks."

"I'm sure," Spencer told him his voice husky. "Unlike most people I don't have a bad or even average relationship to get over, because neither boys or girls ever paid me any attention while I was in school, but that was only because they claimed that I showed off when it came to answering questions correctly before anybody else in class and also turning in homework with perfect scores every single time. Besides, I fell in love with you the moment I touched your chest when you were standing almost completely naked about to change into your wolf shape. I didn't realize it for awhile, but when I touched your chest that did something to me. Touching you like that felt so right, so perfect and at the time I did not completely understand why and I definitely didn't realize that I had fallen completely in love with you, even though it only been a few days."

"Those people probably felt threatened at the fact that you were so intelligent and didn't seem to put any effect into your studies and also so nice," Hotch said not responding for a moment to Spencer's declaration that he had fallen in love with him the moment he had touched his bare chest, although the wolf with him was panting and obviously eager to take his mate and make love to him, but then the man was as well.

Spencer nodded agreeing with what Hotch had just said but then the older man continued, "And Spencer I've been in love with you ever since the first time I laid eyes on you as hard as that is for most people to accept, even those who believe in the True Mate Bond. These last few weeks, have been heaven, as just being near you causes that effect, even if it's also been extremely hard for me to control myself."

"You're probably right, about the other students I went to school with," Spencer agreed with the smile kissing Hotch again. "I don't know why I should have to dumb down just to make other children happy with me, but I certainly didn't gain any friends."

"They were just jealous that's all. Teenagers don't like to be shown up and neither do a lot of adults," Hotch said.

"They were, not that that matters to me," Spencer said with a shrug. "As for what you said

a minute ago I do believe in true love because I know now that I started falling in love with you after you brought Leah home and saved her from Alex, even if he really didn't mean any harm. Before I met you my family has always been enough for me to be happy, but now I know I would never be happy unless you were a permanent part of my life."

Hotch was extremely happy to hear that and he smiled kissing his mate on the forehead.

"In any case, before I allow you to take me upstairs there's a few things I need to tell you about my family. Something that amounts to a family secret. If I tell you this, then our relationship will be a permanent one, because I would never tell anybody I was just casually dating. This is not the kind of secret you can share with just a casual acquaintance and I would never reveal this secret unless I planned on spending the rest of my life with them."

The last part of Spencer's sentence about spending the rest of his life with him was music to Hotch's ears and made him deliriously happy, although he did wonder what kind of secret Spencer would be revealing. Well, he supposed that he would find out in just a moment.

"I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you and I promise you that whatever you have to reveal will not change my feelings for you in the slightest," Hotch promised. "As you know when a Shifter finds a mate it is for life, and now that you have announced that you are ready to take the next step I can't wait to take you upstairs and show you how much I love you."

Spencer blushed at that, but walked into Aaron's waiting arms where he felt safe, loved and protected as if nothing could ever hurt him so long as Aaron's arms were around him.

"Alright then, let's go sit in the den, so I can tell you the Reid family secret," Spencer said.

The two men walked into the den and both sat on the couch as close together as they could get.

"So what's his family secret that you need to reveal?" asked Hotch with a raised eyebrow, making sure that his thigh was up against Spencer's where the other man could feel his body heat even through the material of both their pants and also making sure to have his hand on Spencer's bare arm knowing that this would help steady his mate in whatever he was about to reveal.

"I've been trying to figure out how to tell you this since a few days after I met you," began Spencer a little nervously, although the physical contact with his mate's body helped steady him and give him the courage for what he was about to say

Potters always charged ahead, Spencer thought, and damn the consequences. Of course, he was a Reid not a Potter, but still he did have Potter blood through his mother.

"Tell me what you know about magic? Not stage magic, but real magic."

"What do you mean by magic?" Hotch asked carefully surprised at what Spencer had said knowing that he had asked the question for a reason.

"I mean magic, that have effects on the visible world that can't be explained by science. For example lifting objects without the use of hands or invisible wires, but by the power of the energy that is within your body, this energy being known as magic."

Spencer got up from where he was sitting, although he was sorry to lose contact with Aaron and took out a long slender stick out of a hidden wand holder that was invisible so long as the wand was sheathed.

Hotch watched in amazement as Spencer took out a long slender stick that was made of some kind of dark wood from some kind of invisible holder that appeared as soon as it was removed.

"This is a wand," Spencer explained calmly holding it out to his mate who took the hint and grabbed it. As soon as his hand made contact Spencer waited for him to wave it around and Hotch did so feeling rather silly.

"Now as you see you're not getting any reaction from it because you don't have the magic but in the hands of a witch or wizard it is a totally different story," Spencer explained. "To you the wand you hold in your hand is nothing more then a stick of inert wood, too me, however…"

Spencer took his wand back from Hotch and then very calmly cast several spells, saying the words aloud for the benefit of his audience, not because he needed to.

"Accio, Aaron's coffee," Spencer said.

Hotch watched in amazement as his coffee cup lifted from the end table that it had been sitting on and headed towards Spencer who calmly caught it before banishing it back to where it had been.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Spencer intoned and Hotch was startled as the entire couch he was sitting on lifted into the air until it was hovering several feet above the floor.

Spencer set the couch back where it had originally been gently and then said, "Orchideous!" and a dozen red roses popped out the end of his wand.

Spencer handed the roses to the other man shyly and Hotch took them reverently knowing that this was Spencer's way of telling him silently that he loved him

"Here let me get to a vase with water for those so that they don't wilt," Spencer said, as he calmly intoned, "Accio, flower vase!"

Hotch watched in amazement as a very beautiful crystal vase came speeding towards Spencer from where it had been stored on top of the fridge, "Aguamenti!" Spencer said pointing his wand over the rim of the vase and immediately a jet of water came out of the tip and filled up the vase very quickly.

"Here you go," Spencer said handing the vase to Hotch after ending the charm once the vase was halfway full.

"Thank you," Hotch said his voice a little strained, but that was only because what he had seen had shocked him to the core.

Hotch took the vase and put the roses into it, before placing it on the coffee table.

"I hope this display hasn't frightened you or made you leery of me or worse makes you think that I and my family are devils that need to be burned at the stake like they did in the middle ages with supposed witchcraft practitioners for losing you now would kill me on the inside," Spencer said putting his wand away and coming to sit down beside Hotch again.

Spencer voice was so totally insecure that it made Hotch immediately react, even while his mind was still reeling and trying to come to terms with what he had seen.

"Never!" Hotch's exclaimed taking his mate into his arms and placing Spencer's head against his shoulder. "When I said I loved you I meant it. Yes, what you showed me shocked me and we are going to have to have a long discussion, but I will not abandon you, as leaving you just because you have what you call magic is not going to happen."

Spencer breathed easier, relieved and said quietly, "Thank you, Aaron."

"There's no need to thank me, for my love is neverending, but you're welcome all the same," Hotch said, practically pulling the other man onto his lap. "If I were to put conditions on loving you, then that's not really love at all, for when you truly love someone, you love them completely despite their faults or their weaknesses or their unusual talents. To abandon someone just because they have a talent that you didn't expect or didn't believe existed until you were shown of is no reason abandon someone you love."

"Not every muggle like yourself would agree with you," Spencer told the older man quietly.

"Muggle?" asked Hotch curiously.

"It just means a nonmagical person," Reid explained calmly burying his head into Hotch's chest and inhaling his scent. "That's what those without magic are called by those that do have it."

"Oh," Hotch said. "I hate to ask this, but I need to know. What would you have done if I hadn't accepted that magic was real or if I had reacted badly?"

"Well, we have very strict secrecy laws in the magical community," Spencer explained lifting his head to give his mate a kiss on the cheek. "While it is not at all unusual for somebody from a magical family to marry a muggle, or even for two muggle parents to produce a magical child, we have very strict laws about who can know. Since you and I are going to become permanent partners and might even end up getting married sometime in the future, it is not against the law for you to know about magic. However, your siblings that you told me about are not allowed to know, even though they are your family."

"And if we adopt pups in a few years?" asked Hotch.

"Then of course, they are allowed to know, since they would be our immediate family and they will be living in the same house. The muggle parents of a magical child would have to know about magic, so that the child can be given the option to be sent to a magical school to learn how to control his or her powers. Of course, a lot of magical children are home taught, either because the parents can't afford the school fees or because the parents feel that this is the best option for their children. Being home taught is the harder way to do it as there are more distractions and you have to take your qualifying tests at the ministry."

"So it's like the whole secret community," Hotch said.

"Oh, yes, we have our own healthcare, banking, educational system and once you are qualified our own jobs and even our own money thrown in for good measure. Of course, many witches and wizards at least here in America work muggle jobs and not magical ones and sometimes they even do both, like for example an Auror can also be a cop and on the local force, because those two jobs coincide and require the same set of skills."

"How many witches and wizards are there just in the USA?" asked Hotch.

"I don't really know, but compared to muggles we are a small community. There're billions of muggles and also billions of shapeshifters, but they're only maybe a million witches and wizards all over the world and that's only a rough estimate," Spencer said. "As I said we are a rather small community, which is one of the reasons we go so far to keep magic a secret from every day people or Shifters."

"Yes, I can see why your people have created a whole secret community," Hotch mumbled, as he thought about it.

He was well versed in history and knew very well what happened to minority groups. If the magical community was ever discovered they would be hunted down and expected to either solve the worlds problems or killed and thousands, perhaps, tens of thousands Shifters or Normals, along with witches and wizards would suffer as a result. It would be a massive attack and would result in hundreds of thousands deaths, that had never before been seen in history. It would make World War II look like a minor skirmish.

"I'll tell you more about the wizarding world at a later date, but I believe that you were going to throw me over your shoulder and take me to bed," Spencer said his voice silky with lust and desire.

Hotch looked up at Spencer saw he was serious and beamed.

"Absolutely! I've been looking forward to this day for the last couple of weeks, although I thought it would be at least another month or two before you agreed to let me take you to bed," Hotch said, rising from where he was sitting on the sofa and pulling Spencer to his feet where he easily picked him up in his arms and headed for the stairs at a rapid pace and towards Spencer's bedroom on the fourth floor.

"My! You're a big strong man aren't you?" Spencer teased his mate, even as he cuddled in his arms quite comfortably. "I'm not exactly a lightweight, although I realize that I don't have your masculinity."

The wolf in Hotch's chest growled in anticipation of what was about to occur and felt that he had been waiting too long as it was to make love to the man he had adored since the minute they had met, even if he knew logically it had only been a couple of weeks.

"Shapeshifters are stronger than they look, as we take after our animal counterpart," Hotch answered, even as he headed upstairs at a rapid pace to Spencer's bedroom that was on the fourth floor, "so to me you are rather light and no trouble for me to carry."

Spencer didn't answer, as he was to busy burying his head into his mate's chest and kissing him on the side of his neck where the skin was exposed.

"Stop that! Unless you want me to drop you that is. Once we get to what is now our bedroom you are welcome to continue what you started," Hotch ordered gruffly his voice filled with lust, desire and longing.

Spencer stopped kissing the side of his mate's neck and tried to wait patiently as Aaron walked up the stairs.

Finally what seemed like an eternity later, but was really less than three minutes Hotch opened the door to Spencer's bedroom and entered.

Once he had put Spencer down on the bed, he closed the door and locked it, as he didn't want any interference from Spencer's brothers and sisters.

"Will your siblings be okay by themselves?" asked Hotch.

"Yes, they will as there is plenty of food in the house, and all of us know how to cook to some degree, so if we want to spend days up here that's fine with me. If they really need anything all they have to do is knock on the door as I would never keep them out if it's some kind of an emergency," Spencer said. "If they want to order pizza or some other takeout, we also keep muggle money in a jar in the kitchen and there's plenty in there for them to be able to eat out for the rest of the month before I would even need to think about replenishing it.

"Good!" Hotch growled pleased. "Because I plan on keeping you in bed the entire weekend, although I do need to go back to work on Monday."

"Which will give me a chance to recover so that we can do it again," Spencer said with a smile.

"Oh, we will be spending a lot of time in bed for the foreseeable future, and in fact you better be prepared to spend most of your free time in bed, because since I'll be out of town a lot I intend to keep you naked and my prisoner when I'm not out of town on a case," Hotch told his mate quite seriously with a smirk. "If you knew how many intense sexual dreams I've been having ever since we met just a little bit over two weeks ago, you would know why I don't intend to let you out of bed while I'm here."

"I won't object, I promise you," Spencer assured him, even as he walked into his mate's protective and loving embrace. "However, you will need to feed me at regular intervals and also allow bathroom breaks."

"Yes, I suppose those are necessary," Hotch admitted reluctantly, "but for the rest of the weekend those are the only two exceptions, as I won't be surprised that when I go in on Monday if the team is called on a case in some city immediately. This has been the best two weeks of my life, but these quiet periods for our unit never last very long and it's been really quiet for the last couple of weeks as we haven't had to fly anywhere. The one case we have had was in Washington and so we just drove, which means I could see you most nights after I finished working."

"Okay, then for the next 60 hours I am yours," Spencer said.

"You are mine for the rest of our time in this world," Hotch growled looking extremely possessive.

"And you are mine," Spencer told him quietly, but sincerely, stroking Hotch's cheek tenderly with his thumb in a calming gesture. "All I meant was that I agree with your plan to keep me in bed until you have to go into work on Monday, because I promise you that I will always be yours. Once my siblings go back to school, including Hudson and Bronwyn, I will also have to go back to work, but there's no need to worry about that right this minute."

Hotch looked satisfied with his mate's answer and the wolf in his chest growled and ordered him to get on with it sounding extremely impatient and Hotch couldn't blame the wolf in him a bit, especially not when his mate stood just mere inches from him looking so utterly delectable. His mate's dark brown hair was slightly long going down past the nape of his neck, as if he had put off seeing a barber for just a little. Spencer's throat however, was very visible and just seeing all that totally white skin was giving the wolf in him ideas of what he'd like to do to his mate. The wolf in his chest was drooling and looking extremely ferocious, but also so eager, that he was prancing in place, more than ready for Hotch to get on with it.

We must be gentle, Hotch told the wolf in him firmly. We don't want to hurt him, especially not his first time. We must make his first sexual experience so spectacular that he won't mind spending quite a bit of time in bed for the foreseeable future.

The wolf in his chest whined, but calmed down visibly and Hotch was glad, because it would be much harder to be gentle, if the wolf in him was trying his best to take control.

"Once we make love I will never allow you to leave me," Hotch told the younger man quietly his voice intense, his eyes turning the yellow of the wolf and had a feral gleam in them. "It's true that I can feel the pull of the mate bond and since we're so close it is at least triply intense, however, the bond is not complete until we make love for the first time and until we do you have a choice. Once I fully penetrate you and release my semen into your body for the first time, our connection will intensify by several degrees and you should be able to feel it just like I do, even though you are not a Shifter and once that happens the bond is complete. Also once you do feel this connection you will know that the two of us belong together for the rest of our time on this Earth and nothing and I mean nothing will ever separate us, save for the death of one of us."

"Let's get started then," Spencer said, as his eager hands, with their long dextrous fingers reached up to unbutton his mate's shirt and Hotch didn't bother to stop him, since he was eagerly anticipating his mate undressing him and could hardly wait to do the same to Spencer. "I know you are very eager to make love to me, but believe me, I've been having a few extremely intense sexual dreams of my own and I am just as eager as you are. I know you are an alpha male because of your rather forceful personality and would probably prefer the dominant position, which is fine with me, since I am definitely not as I'm sure you know."

"I do prefer to be on top, but I don't mind being on the bottom occasionally so long as it is with you," Hotch said a concession he had never made with his ex-wife or any other woman that he'd had sex with, because as Spencer had worked out for himself he was an alpha male and they preferred to be in control at all times only ceding it to someone they trusted absolutely, which he did when it came to his mate knowing that the other man would never betray him.

Spencer smiled at him obviously happy at the news. Spencer finished removing Aaron's shirt and Hotch let it fall to the floor not particularly caring where it landed. Spencer then unbuttoned his pants and pushed then down far enough so that they would fall the rest of the way on their own and finally all that was left was his underwear.

Spencer stared at Aaron's crouch area for the bulge of his cock was very visible against the cotton of his boxers. Spencer licked his bottom lip with his tongue and realized he couldn't wait to feel Aaron's penis in his body.

"Like what you see?" asked Hotch with a smirk his voice thick with desire and lust already knowing the answer, since Spencer had already seen his totally naked body, not too long ago when his mate had asked to see him in his wolf shape and his reaction at the way he touched his chest had told Aaron then that they would be completing the bond that was between them, although he hadn't expected it would be this soon.

"Yes," Spencer admitted softly, but also a little nervously licking his bottom lip again, which Hotch thought was one of the most sensual things he had ever seen.

"You don't ever have to be ashamed of admitting your thoughts on any subject to me, as I always want to know what you're thinking," Hotch told Spencer firmly.

Hotch knew that Spencer would get over his shyness when it came to talking about sex once they started having it regularly, but by his mate's own shy admission, a week ago, he was a virgin and Hotch was determined to make his first sexual experience as gentle, tender and loving as possible, so that Spencer would have no trouble repeating the act as often as time allowed. Besides, he loved his mate so much that he wanted to make his first sexual experience one that he would never forget.

"I'll work on that," Reid promised with a shy smile.

As they had been bantering back and forth, Hotch had gotten Spencer's shirt off, as well as his pants so that both of them were now naked except for their underwear.

Both men stared at each other for a moment and then Spencer waved a hand and the bed magically unmade itself and was turned down.

Hotch watched this in amazement and immediately noted that his mate hadn't uttered a word or even used a wand and came to conclusion that Spencer had only said his spells out loud in order for him to accept that magic was real easier. Hotch thought that it was logical that young witches and wizards probably learned how to do their spells out loud with a wand first and then when they were older, they probably worked on their silent incantations, since it was a rather useful skill to acquire. In the muggle world a wand would be very visible, but somebody who could do wandless magic would be able to do it in front of people and they would never notice. Hotch was sure that just like anything else magic took practice and he was also sure that some spells were relatively simple to cast while others were likely much more difficult and therefore, took more practice.

Spencer sat down on the edge of his bed and swung his legs over, before laying down spreading his legs wide after dropping his briefs to the floor and Hotch immediately followed his mate's example also removing his boxers.

"I love you so much and I shall never stop," Hotch told his mate being totally sincere. "You allowing me to make love to you this soon into our relationship is a gift I shall never forget or be able to repay."

"Just make love to me, Aaron," Spencer almost mewled looking pathetically eager, wiggling beneath his mate's much larger frame enticingly causing Hotch to growl, as lust and desire swelled through his form at his, Spencer's little display.

"It will be an absolute pleasure," Hotch murmured, as he started to run gentle hands over his mate's very slimly muscled body, using in his mouth to suck on one of his nipples, while the other one ran up and down his mate's outer thigh gently pinching the skin.

Spencer mewled softly again and begin to buck his hips upwards begging Hotch to go faster silently.

"You want me to go faster, hm?" Hotch chuckled understanding his mate's silent request and also his mate's eagerness, since he felt the same. Spencer nodded eagerly. "And here I thought I'd take my time so that you would get used to having sex. I want to make this the most pleasurable experience of your life, so you won't object to staying in bed for days at a time."

"Just get on with it, Aaron, I feel like I'm going to explode if you don't enter me in the next few minutes, even though you've hardly done anything to my body yet. My body just seems to respond to your gentle ministrations and is eager for you to enter it for the first time. You don't have time for foreplay at the moment, so save it for later. I promise I don't care if you go fast or take your time I will enjoy whatever you choose to do to my body and am very eagerly anticipating the intense pleasure I know I'm going to feel, since you already have me near the edge and you've hardly done anything to me yet."

"Alright then," Hotch agreed eagerly, since Spencer wanted him so badly he wasn't about to deny his mate's demand and the truth was he wasn't sure how long he could hold out himself despite his vaunted patience and normally iron will, as the wolf within him was very eager to make love to his mate. He was very glad that Spencer had made his desires known, for although he had been determined to wait even six months if it had been necessary he had been reaching the end of his rope even after just 2 1/2 weeks, so he was extremely glad that his mate had spoken up. "We can save the foreplay for another time."

Hotch positioned himself at his mate's entrance, which was highly visible thanks to the nice plump pillow that was shoved under his hips and Hotch wondered briefly how his mate knew to do that since he was a virgin, but shoved it to the back of his mind to ask Spencer at a later date.

"Do you have any lube?" asked Hotch suddenly as he didn't want to do a rough penetration this first time and therefore, lube was required.

"In the drawer of the bedside table," Spencer said in a strained tone of voice, which Hotch was pleased to note, because that meant the other man desired him, just as much as he did his mate. Really he had hardly done anything at all yet, although that was about to change if he had any say in the matter. Which he did, because from now on Spencer was his alone, so he had a great deal to say as a matter of fact.

Hotch reached over and opened the drawer of the bedside table and took out the small bottle of lube that was in it. Hotch popped off the top without bothering to unscrew it and squeezed some onto his hand. Once that was done he rubbed his hands together and then ran them over his cock until it was coated quite thoroughly.

Hotch knew that the wolf within him, as well as his body were so eager for his mate that he didn't even have time to prepare him, using lube coated fingers and so he would try to be as gentle as he could be, when he pushed his cock inside his mate's body for the very first time. He knew that Spencer was just as eager as he was, but he was sure that his mate didn't know about the pain that would be involved when his cock penetrated his hole, even if it only lasted for a very short amount of time and it would be intense sexual pleasure soon after that. There would always be a little bit of pain involved whenever they made love simply because two men weren't designed to have sex with each other, but it would always be very brief.

Once Hotch was sure that this first penetration would be as painless as he could possibly make it he repositioned his cock and pushed it in slowly, an inch at a time, as he wanted to give his mate a few minutes to get used to the intrusion of something as big as his penis. Hotch knew from experience that a man's anus was elastic and would stretch with just a little bit of pain and then go back to its normal size once a man's cock was removed as a woman's vagina was exactly the same.

Spencer whimpered in pain and Hotch stilled trying not to move until his mate indicated that he was ready for him to continue.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, but was really only a minute or two Spencer pleaded his voice strained and hoarse, "More, Aaron! More! Please, Merlin, finish what you started before I explode from this feeling in my lower regions."

Hotch didn't respond verbally, but obeyed immediately and rammed his cock in the last few inches, as far as it would go, so that he was completely sheathed in his mate's body for the very first time. Oh! This was absolute perfection! Hotch thought his mate's passage welcoming him with its warmth. His cock was the perfect size for Spencer's body and his mate's passage squeezed his cock as if welcoming it home and Hotch knew that was because the two of them were made for each other.

"Ohhh!" Hotch groaned radiating intense satisfaction the wolf part of him howling's its satisfaction and pleasure silently in his chest and also anticipation of what was about to happen next. "Your passage is so tight, so utterly perfect that I would like to stay inside you for days at a time. The way your body immediately responds to mine, and way your passage squeezes my cock..."

Hotch groaned needily again, unable to continue, or hold back his seed anymore, so he gave in and released his semen into his mate's body for the very first time. As soon as he did he felt the bond that had been present between them for several weeks, even if he was the only one that had felt it, reach its final stage and snap into place in his soul, even as he reached the peak of his climax going over the edge as his cock kept spurting, stream after stream of his seed into his mate's body.

Hotch thought somewhat distantly, that if Spencer was female he would soon be pregnant with at least half a dozen pups, as he had never in his entire life spurted so much seed into anybody, although he had to admit that usually he used a condom during those sexual encounters, particularly with females, even if they promised they were on the pill as he took no chances of some woman that he had sex with once or twice getting pregnant. Of course, when he'd had sex with men, although this had only happened a few times and had been mostly blowjobs, he didn't worry about getting a man pregnant since it went against genetics.

Hotch collapsed on top of his, Spencer's body even as his climax continued to go through him and felt his mate's body also shuddering from his first ever climax at the hands of another. The two of them just lay there simply vibrating together for what seemed like forever, but was really only a few minutes.

"That was spectacular and I know it will only get better the more we practice and I know we intend to practice a lot," Spencer said once he had caught his breath, kissing the side of Hotch's neck.

"Oh, I would keep you in bed for a year if I could," Hotch said with an absolutely shit-eating grin. "I know that's not really feasible, but believe me, I dream of actually being able to do something like that and Spencer, just so you don't have any doubts if I enjoyed myself let me assure you it was spectacular for me as well. I was being totally forthright when I told you that your passage was so tight and the perfect size for my cock. I also just love the way your body responds to mine and the little mewls, groans, whimpers and purrs you made drove me absolutely wild with lust and desire. Normally, I am able to hold out for much longer before reaching my climax and having my partner do the same, but not this time, because I desired you to much. The wolf in me was howling and urging me to do what it's been wanting me to do for the past 2 1/2 weeks."

Spencer blushed, for he knew that Aaron was being totally honest and wasn't just saying the words to make him feel better. "I'm glad that I made you so happy, because you certainly pleasured me beyond my wildest dreams. You were so patient and gentle and thought of my needs before your own, which I know must have been extremely difficult for you. Not many other people would have done that, or been so understanding with the fact that I was a virgin, so I thank you for making this the best experience of my life."

"You're welcome, although I have to say that I have never had such a strong climax in my entire life, not even when I was a teenager," Hotch informed the younger man, being totally honest. "In fact, if you want to know the truth it was really three climaxes close together. Also I never knew I could produce so much seed at one time because I must've spurted my cock into your body at least a dozen times and just when I thought my cock was done, another spurt would erupt out of the tip, before I could withdraw myself from you."

Spencer blushed again for some reason obscenely pleased to hear that.

"I've never had such a strong climax either," Spencer admitted shyly. "Of course, whenever I've had one it's always been me jacking off, so maybe it's because it's my first time at the hands of someone besides, myself."

"It is," Hotch told him confidently. "Believe me I know, because I used to jack off quite a lot when I was a teenager and when I had sex with an actual person for the first time instead of just doing it to myself it just didn't compare, trust me. I'm not saying masturbating doesn't relieve the sexual tension, but it just doesn't compare to actually having sex with a warm body, especially someone you love more then life, and Spencer, just so you know you blew every single one of those past sexual encounters out of the water and you will only get better the more you practice and I plan to give you plenty of opportunity to do that."

Hotch eyes rolled back as he thought about that, because he hadn't been joking when he had told Spencer that making love to him was the best sex he had ever had hands down and he couldn't even imagine how much better his and Spencer's lovemaking would be once they had some practice.

"Which we intend to do a lot," Spencer said blushing at the genuine praise.

"Oh, yes, by the time Monday rolls around I guarantee you we will have made love probably at least 20 or 30 times and had just as many climaxes, so you better be prepared not to get much sleep."

"I can sleep," Spencer told him, "while you are at work, though I don't envy you having to go into work all tired."

Hotch shrugged unconcerned. "The team's used to going on very little sleep sometimes when we're trying to catch a particularly difficult unsub, so it's really not an unusual state for me, although we always sleep after a case and normally for more than eight hours because of that tiredness. It won't kill me, and I'm still young enough to have an occasional sleepless night and it not effect me to much, although I can't afford to do it every night. I know that the older I get, the less I'll be able to go without sleep, but right now it certainly comes in handy."

"Well, that's certainly a useful skill to have," Spencer said.

"It is," Hotch admitted with a shrug. "In any case, I hope you're not too tired because I plan to make love to you all night and you will be getting very little sleep."

"That's fine," Spencer told him quite seriously but with a grin. "I'm looking forward to it. Before you get started though I do have one question."

"What's your question?" asked Hotch curiously.

"Well, the second you spurted your seed into me for the first time I felt as if a piece of me that I didn't even know I was missing snap in the place in my soul and I was just wondering if that was the True Mate Bond that you were telling me about."

"Yes, it was," Hotch told him with a grin, "and I felt it, even in the middle of my most intense climax ever. You and I are connected now and if you try to leave me for any reason, then we will both start to feel sick and the further you got from me the sicker we both would become until the two of us are back together. That's what I meant earlier about you still having a choice, as to whether or not to accept the bond, but once you did..."

"Yes, I know exactly what you mean and you don't ever have to worry about my loyalty to you or me leaving you, because it will never happen. I know we only met a little bit over two weeks ago, but I already love you so deeply it would literally destroy me to ever lose you and I know my love will only deepen the more time we spend together, so you have no reason to worry at all, just as I never will. Besides, us Potters tend to truly fall in love once and hard, and I know I am a Reid, but I do have Potter blood, through my mother, so apparently it is a trait that she passed onto me."

"Good, because I would track you down to the ends of the Earth, as it doesn't matter, which one of us tried to leave the other we would still both feel sick, which would get progressively worse the further apart we got from each other until we were back together and no this doesn't mean that we can't be parted like when I'm out of town for work, just that the bond knows the difference between a temporary separation because of necessity and one where one partner or spouse is trying to permanently leave."

"Mm, that's really fascinating," Spencer said. "However, we can shelve the discussion for later, preferably much later, as we both have better things to do."

"So we do," Hotch said smirking down at his mate evilly and immediately started sucking on one of Spencer's nipples causing him to groan as the desire within him started to build rapidly once more. "Now that we have released two and a half weeks of sexual tension I intend to take my time to bring you to completion. If I have my way you will be begging me to finish it long before we are done, which I have absolutely no intention of doing until I am ready."

Spencer's groan was more of anticipation of what was to come then anything else and Hotch just smirked down at him, already beginning to run his hands up and down his mate's body, lightly pinching the sensitive skin in certain areas making Spencer wither eagerly beneath him, immediately wanting more as Aaron's hands felt so good, as did his mouth on his nipple and the way he licked and sucked them. He had never really thought much about the sexual act before or believed that he would enjoy it so much, but he was very glad that he had been wrong about that. Well, either that or it was just because Aaron had magic hands as well as a magic mouth, since the older man already had certain areas of his body tingling pleasantly, but either way it didn't really matter. Spencer knew that he was going to love spending a lot of extra time in bed in the near future and he had never believed that he would say that, since he normally preferred to be up and active, but that didn't make it any less true.

Spencer made no protest, as his mate brought him to climax as he wasn't that stupid, though Aaron was certainly taking his time and allowing it to build slowly instead of fast like the first time.

If I don't die of sexual frustration while he is torturing me it will be a miracle, but if I do what a way to go, was Spencer's last thought for quite some time as his brain went on the fritz with delicious, earthshattering pleasure.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	3. Chapter 3

"Aaron, I want you to move in with me," Spencer said out of the blue. "There's no point of you keeping your apartment, as it's just a waste of money, not when there is plenty of room for your things here and besides, you are never there anyway at least not for the last few weeks."

It was Sunday and Aaron would be going back to work tomorrow, but that was still hours away as it was only the middle of the afternoon and the two of them had just finished having sex for like the sixth time just since they had woken up from their short catnaps and so both men's libidos were more than satisfied for the moment, although they knew that wouldn't last, which was fine with both of them.

"Alright," Hotch agreed calmly. "I was intending to bring that subject up with you before I left tomorrow morning for work, but you beat me to it. I'm going to be parted from you enough because of my work, and I definitely don't want to be parted from you when I'm home. Besides, I've been spending most of my free time over here for the last 3 weeks anyway and only went home to sleep, so it's the logical move."

"Good, we can start moving your things over whenever you're home a few at a time and perhaps, even bring some of your furniture or maybe put it in storage."

"I could rent a moving van, or U-Haul," Hotch mused.

"Don't waste your money," Spencer told him quite calmly, "you're forgetting that I have magic."

"What do you mean by that?" Hotch asked carefully.

"Just that for the furniture and most other things, I can shrink it down so that it fits in a steamer trunk, which will then go in the car and then resize it once we get it home and this way you don't have to waste thousands of dollars. However, anything electronic like a computer cannot be shrunk down as it messes with the sensitive electronics, so that it doesn't work properly afterwards. It should be okay shrinking something simple like a CD player, or stereo or simple kitchen appliances like a mixer, but for computers no."

"So if you can shrink most things down we could probably get everything to your place in just one trip instead of renting a U-Haul like I was imagining having to do," Hotch said, suddenly wishing that he had magic, as it seemed to make doing certain things much easier and less time-consuming.

"Yep, and I can even make the trunk, well not quite weightless as that would be too noticeable, but light enough to where it only weighs 5 pounds no matter what we put in it," Spencer said with a grin.

"What about the cameras that are placed in all apartment buildings?" asked Hotch. "It will seem suspicious if we don't have to make several trips or be seen moving furniture or carrying boxes out of the apartment."

"Again this is where magic comes in useful," Spencer said. "Not too long ago I found a neat little spell in a rather obscure book that will trick the cameras, so quit worrying."

"Well, it looks like you have it all worked out," Hotch said a slow grin coming onto his face.

"Of course," Spencer said loftily, "you expected anything else?"

Hotch stared at Spencer in amazement for a minute and then realized that his mate was joking when a grin appeared slowly on his face.

"You really had me going there for a few seconds," Hotch said chuckling.

"I believe you'll find that I have a very subtle and often surprising sense of humor," Spencer told him quite seriously before breaking out into laughter.

"Well, you're certainly in a good mood," Hotch said with a grin knowing exactly why he was.

"And why shouldn't I be?" asked Spencer with a raised eyebrow. "I've never been this happy in my entire life."

"I know exactly what you mean," Hotch said and he did, for he, like Spencer had never been as happy, as he was now, even though he loved his work. However, there was difference between loving your work and being happy in your personal life. "I've been meaning to ask you something, ever since I first saw this house, but it's more matter of curiosity, then anything else."

"What do you want to ask?" asked Spencer not reacting to the sudden change of subject.

"Well, I know you showed me this house when I first came into your life, but there appear to be quite a few rooms that are closed up, so really my question is just how many rooms does this house have?"

"Ah, that's an excellent question," Spencer said, "and the answer is 30 bedrooms, ten bathrooms, and several other rooms that are used for various things."

"Well, I knew this house was big, but 30 bedrooms?" asked Hotch trying to wrap his head around it.

"Well, yes, I suppose it is big compared to modern-day standards," Spencer admitted, "but you have to remember that the Potters are an extremely wealthy family and this house has been in their family for generations. You are not the first person to comment on how big this place is, but I just give people the logical explanation when they ask how we maintain it, since to most people it isn't just a house, but a mansion. I simply tell them that it's been in my family for a long time and the Potters unlike a lot of other families didn't lose their fortune in the stock market and so have no trouble maintaining the house. Now while this explanation is basically very true what I don't mention to other people is the way we maintain the house is that we use cleaning charms, and the rooms that aren't in use are magically sealed until they are needed. Really we're only using maybe 15% of the space that is available in this house. Each member of the family has a room to themselves, because as I said we have them to spare. Now I admit that we could move to a smaller place, but why when this one was already available and already paid for?"

"Alright, I understand that, but my question is why is this place so big? I would think something half the size would do just as well," Hotch said.

"Well, you have to remember what I told you about how big the Potter family has been in the past," Spencer said. "The Potters have always been very prolific, at least my branch of them and a lot of times they had 15 children or more since most of the time they married right after finishing wizarding school, which means 17 or 18, and also you must consider the fact that witches tend to be very fertile into their 50s and even 60s or at least the non-purebloods do."

Hotch looked truly startled at that and Spencer didn't blame him. "Witches are fertile for that length of time?"

"Yes, they are and it is believed that is the case because of the magic in our bodies," Spencer confirmed. "However, most of them have their children while they are young and stop by the time they are in their late 30s to early 40s. Most wizarding families don't have that many children, except some of the really rich ones like the Potters. Also some of the older families are now having trouble conceiving and are lucky to produce more than one or two children a generation mostly because of being inbred."

"So some of the older families marry their cousins and no matter how distant that eventually catches up with them," Hotch summarized and Spencer nodded.

"Some of the older families believe in keeping their bloodlines pure and that means not marrying a half blood or muggle-born and definitely not a muggle or a Shifter. In order to be considered even remotely pureblooded to some families you must have at least four generations of witches and wizards on either side of your family, without throwing anybody who is not into the mix and for some of the older families you need many more generations then that to be considered remotely pureblooded. However, thanks to that policy not only are they dying out their magic isn't as strong as it once was. The reason that the Potter magic has stayed strong is because we have always had a more liberal marrying policy. Most of my ancestors have married other witches and wizards, but occasionally one turns out like me and that's bisexual and have even settled down with their own sex. Some of my ancestors have even married muggles and not a witch or wizard at all, but as I said thanks to that policy our family magic has stayed strong. I'm not bragging when I say that the Potters are some of the strongest magic users of the last five generations at least."

"Yes, didn't you tell me a couple of days ago that your dad was a muggle and your mother a witch?" asked Hotch.

"I did," Spencer agreed, "and let me tell you as well that it is pretty unusual for every child to inherit the magic when just one parent has it, and yet all my brothers and sisters did."

"Don't you think that it might have something to do with the fact that your mother was a strong witch and so were most of your Potter ancestors?" asked Hotch. "It makes sense that how strong a witch or wizard is in magic would have a lot to do with just some or all of your children inheriting it if they marry a Normal or a Shifter."

"I never thought about it that way, and it's never been proven one way or the other, but it makes sense and is as good an explanation as any," Spencer said. "Yes, I think I will accept that explanation, as the one that makes the most sense until proven otherwise. It's always been known that every magical person in this world has different magical strengths, some are really strong even if both their parents are muggles, while others are much weaker. In fact muggle-borns and half-bloods tend to be stronger in magic then purebloods and it is believed that is because they are not inbred."

"Yes, that really makes complete sense," Hotch admitted after thinking about it for several minutes, "because no matter what those purebloods believe you can't keep marrying your cousin no matter how distant and not expect consequences, one of which is not being able to have children easily and also the weakening of their magic."

"I'm not going to worry about those families that luckily, aren't that prevalent in America, although I hear they have much more influence in England, where the Potter line originated," Spencer said.

"Yes, you did mention that after you had told me about magic that your line was originally British and that you might have relatives over there," Hotch said.

"I would love to discover if I really do have any relatives over England, but there is plenty of time to do that as both of us are quite young," Spencer said. "At the moment, it's more important to strengthen our relationship and also be here for my siblings, Leah and Liya only have two more years of schooling before they graduate, but the rest of them have many more years then that, especially for Hudson and Bronwyn because they don't even start their magical education until next year."

"So, it's common practice to not send magical children to school until they reach 11?" Hotch summarized.

"Here in America, we have tutors," Spencer begin to explain. "Once a child first shows magic it is registered with our government and a tutor is found for them, one that matches with the child personalitywise, because as you know children learn much better if they're encouraged in the proper way and every child is different. Back when we lived in Vegas we had a tutor, from the first time we showed magic and she served the whole family. She taught us everything we would need to know so that when we started school at 11, so we would be well prepared and even though she was originally there for me since I'm the oldest, eventually she started working with all of us. A lot of magical children are home taught and Isadora tutored us and this continued until we reached 11, even Hudson and Bronwyn, even though they were only seven when we moved here, but then they learned how to read and write by the time they were five, simply because they were so intelligent, like I am. Just so you know the tutoring system doesn't apply to purebloods, as they would never accept the help to educate their children. Our family is considered half-bloods because our father was a muggle even if the Potter were originally pureblooded, so in our case it does apply. I miss Isadora sometimes, but she wanted to stay with her family in Vegas and by the time we moved here to Virginia, Hudson and Bronwyn already knew most of what they needed to know and were reading and writing really well, so in my free time I made up the slack, which is another reason I took the summers off."

"So who looked after them while you worked?" asked Hotch more curiously than anything else, as he know that Spencer would never leave his young brother and sister alone to their own devices, especially not when they had first moved here and Hudson and Bronwyn had been only seven. His mate was far to intelligent and responsible to leave a pair of 7 year olds by themselves.

"Oh, there is a magical babysitting service," Spencer explained. "This service is made up entirely of witches and most of them have either just come of age and are still looking for jobs, or are older woman whose children are already grown and out on their own, but want to earn a few extra Galleons. There's also a few women who are in their 20s and 30s and not married. In any case, I normally request the same babysitter every time since I know and trust her to look after Bronwyn and Hudson and mostly I get Annabel unless she's already babysitting another family's children, especially since I pay extra."

"So you get the same lady mostly every time, and you pay extra to make sure you do," Hotch summarized and Spencer nodded.

"Believe me, Annabel and the service she works for makes quite a tidy sum off me, as there is a yearly fee for the service itself. Now while this fee isn't really much, as it's only 20 Galleons a year, whoever is babysitting, usually Annabel, gets around fifty to sixty-five Galleons per time, simply because I'm gone sometimes for 16 hours and sometimes for even longer at a time. I even set aside one of the guestrooms on the second floor for whoever the babysitter is so that they can sleep when my siblings do. Once Bronwyn and Hudson start their magical education the babysitting service will no longer be necessary, because they will be 11 and that is considered adult enough to look after themselves while I work."

"So where do magical children go to school?" asked Hotch.

"Well, a lot are homeschooled as I told you, but there are four major schools and dozens of little ones that train magical children. The four major schools at least in this part of the world are Hogwarts, which is located out in the middle of nowhere in Scotland, then there's Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, which is in France, Durmstrang Institute, which is located in Scandinavia and the Salem Institute located right here in the USA in Massachusetts. All these schools can each accommodate hundreds of students, but as I said they'll also many tiny schools dotted around the world and most can't handle more than a hundred students sometimes a hundred and fifty.

"My siblings, all except the two youngest still go to a school up in Las Vegas and the beginning of term is in September. It is a year round school that only gives you two weeks for Christmas and two and a half months in the summer. You are considered fully qualified after you complete your N.E.W.T.s at the end of your seventh year."

"What about college?" asked Hotch.

"Some magical folks do end up going to college or complete their degrees online like I did, but you don't really need a college education for most wizarding professions, except perhaps, for lawyers.

"Not doctors?" asked Hotch shrewdly.

"Actually they are called healers and no, no college required because you get the training you need at the actual hospital you apply to for their healer program," Spencer replied.

"So when you told me you were a doctor in training..." Hotch began.

"I did not lie, I just didn't tell you that the training to become a healer is taken care of by whatever hospital you are accepted to after applying," Spencer said. "Now if I really wanted to I could still get a muggle medical degree even if it would take me several years to do that, but I don't really see the point of it, when I'll never be a doctor in the nonmagical world. So when are you going to introduce me to your team? I'm eager to meet them after all you've told me about them."

"I want to be selfish and say never and keep you all to myself, even though I know that's not practical," Hotch replied, pulling Spencer closer to him. "In any case, it will be a few months at least as I want to keep the team guessing, as to who my mate really as they have been placing bets ever since I turned 30 a few months ago. They all knew about my connection and that you were in the same city. I had no idea until I met you, as to whether you would be male or female as it doesn't matter if a Shifter believes they swing one way, as it could turn out that his or her mate is the exact opposite."

"So what you're saying is if you didn't really know what sex your mate would be your team wouldn't know either and they've been placing bets on whether it would be male or female," Spencer summarized.

"They have, and also there are various other bets, like how long it would take me to find you, but I don't think any of them betted on me discovering you this soon as it is only three months after my 30th birthday.

"I'm almost glad that my sister was nearly, raped. Don't get me wrong it would've been a totally different story if she actually had been and my rage would have known no bounds, but you probably wouldn't have come into my life at least not so soon if it wasn't for that incident."

"Believe me, I understand what you're trying to say," Hotch said immediately getting what Spencer meant. "You're saying that you're glad your sister was able to escape, but also happy that I just happened to be in the area when the incident occurred and that I bought her home since this is where the two of us met."

"Precisely," Spencer agreed. "I'm glad my sister was able to get away from her attacker, even if Alex didn't really mean any harm and just got a little enthusiastic."

"He might not have meant any harm in the beginning, but he does need to learn that no means no and not playing hard to get," Hotch said emphatically. "When Liya told him no, he should have stopped right there, but he kept trying his best to get her to agree and force himself on her. There is a very fine line between innocent petting and forcing yourself on a woman and Alex crossed that line in my opinion. When your sister told him no, then he should have listened, because even though she was able to get away, she will be suspicious of any man, except for her brothers that approach her in the future and she might never heal from that, but then everybody is different so there's no saying for sure."

"She will probably be a little wary and suspicious around men until she gets to know them," Spencer admitted, "but she's tough and she knows how to take care of herself with and without magic so I believe she'll be fine. I think a little wariness and suspicion around strange men is a good thing personally, even if my sister had to lose a little of her innocence. So when do you want to start packing up the stuff at your place and bringing it over here?"

"Not today, though possibly tomorrow after work, if the team isn't immediately called on a case out of town. If we are called out of town I'll make sure I phone you to let you know and perhaps, you can do my apartment while I'm gone as there is an extra key on top of the doorframe, as that way it's done and I can just let the apartment go."

"I really need you there, because I have no idea what you would want to bring over here, sell or just throw way, so I'll just wait for you to return and we can do it together. While you're gone though, I think I'll go to the wizarding shopping center and buy a trunk that can hold more than it looks like on the outside so that we really can do it all in one trip and get it over with."

"Alright, we'll do it one day after I get home and that way it's over and done with and then we can truly start our lives together," Hotch agreed immediately. "With your help it shouldn't take more than a few hours to pack everything up and bring it here. Some of the stuff I have can be given to charity or just thrown out, but I would like to keep most of my furniture because who knows if it will come in useful or not and it is still in good shape."

"We can put any furniture in one of the spare bedrooms, or even the basement where all the junk from centuries of Potters living here is stored."

"What no attic?" Hotch teased him and Spencer laughed.

"There is one and there's a bunch of junk stored up there as well, but I really don't feel like going up there and putting stuff that we might need in a place where we won't have easy access to it. Besides, its dirty, dusty and hot and although all these things could be corrected with a little magic, the basement is just easier to store stuff that we might need again in the near future. Besides, I'm sure we can find a place for at least some of your furniture as there are plenty of unoccupied rooms in this house."

The two of them continued to discuss it for a few minutes before they got back to what they had been doing earlier as their libidos were demanding to be satisfied right there and both men were more than happy to comply and spent the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening making love only taking breaks for food and to use the bathroom.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Well, you're certainly in cheerful mood," Gideon said coming out of his office when he saw Hotch emerge from the elevator bright and early Monday morning, with a spring in his step, which was rather unusual.

Hotch didn't answer, but he knew that his body language was practically shouting at anybody with a modicum of observational skills that he was extremely happy, although his facial expression was unchanged from what it normally was.

"I am," Hotch finally answered not elaborating.

Gideon studied him and noticed that Rossi's protégé looked truly relaxed and he could only think of one explanation of why that was, especially since he remembered a conversation he'd had with Hotch not to long ago.

"Somebody has been having sex recently," Gideon commented and was disappointed when Hotch refused to lower his eyes or blush, though he should have known that making such a comment would not make the younger man blush for he didn't get embarrassed about much at all really and definitely not easily.

Hotch simply raised an eyebrow at Gideon and went to his desk pretending to ignore one of the leaders of the BAU.

"So, what's her name?" asked Gideon persistently.

"It isn't a her," Hotch finally gave in, if only because he knew Gideon as well as the other three members of the team would keep pestering him until he did Morgan in particular.

"Alright then," Gideon said amiably. "What's his name?"

Hotch looked up in surprise for Gideon's opinion about same-sex relationships was well-known and he had never expected for his superior to be so relaxed about it.

"What?" asked Gideon trying to pretend like he didn't know what Hotch meant with his look but added after a moment, "Alright, as you know normally I am against same-sex relationships, but I do realize that your situation is a little different. I realize that you don't really have any choice in who your mate is and that you can't ignore your instincts just to make me happy, so all I want from you is for you never to share the private details about your relationship, although I would like to meet this fella at some point."

"Oh, you will, maybe in a few months," Hotch said with a grin, "as I intended to keep him to myself for as long as possible."

"I can certainly understand that," Gideon said with a chuckle trying not to think about two men having sex as he didn't want that image in his head thank you very much.

"His name is Spencer Reid," Hotch said sharing the basic details, but keeping the fact that Spencer and his family were all witches and wizards to himself for not only would he never be believed, he would probably be committed to a loony bin. "He has seven brothers and sisters. I rescued one of his 16 year old sisters from her boyfriend who just got a little too enthusiastic and was trying to force her into having sex. Liya kneed him in the groin and broke his nose and managed to get away on her own, and I just happened to be in the area driving around when I almost ran her down."

"You didn't arrest this boyfriend?" asked Gideon looking furious.

"That was really no point and Liya agreed, saying that he had just gotten a little too enthusiastic and didn't know how to take no for answer but that he hadn't really meant any harm. I disagreed, but no laws had been broken and he was only 17, so there really wasn't any point. She told me that she has no intention of going back to him and I believe her for she has quite a bit of fire in her, and she isn't one of those types of women that will take that kind of thing laying down and give some boy another chance to go to far. Apparently all the Reids have been taught how to defend themselves and I guarantee that being kneed in the groin will make Alexander think twice about making an issue of it. She also punched him in the nose and probably broke it."

Gideon smirked in satisfaction at this.

"I suggested that she invest in some mace or pepper spray," Hotch added.

"Good advice," Gideon said approvingly.

"When I mentioned it to Spencer at that first meeting he seemed to agree and said that he would look into it. When he says he's going to look into it he will as he's very protective of his siblings, because apparently their mother died in a car crash in Las Vegas where they were all born, and the father took his own life, from a broken heart less then a year later, although by the time that happened Spencer was 17 so he became his siblings legal guardian."

"That's a lot of responsibility for a 17-year-old," Gideon commented.

"He was up for it," Hotch promised, "Spencer is very intelligent, a genius really and if he wasn't already in training to be a doctor at one of the local hospitals, he'd make a good member of the team, despite the fact that he's only 20. In any case, his parents will left him in charge of his brothers and sisters if they happened to die before they were all grown."

"What about money though?" Gideon asked. "It takes a lot of money to support that many children and get them a proper education and all that."

"That's one thing that the Reids don't have to worry about," Hotch snorted. "I asked Spencer the same thing and he explained to me that his mother's family the Potters are quite wealthy, being one of the very few families that didn't lose their money when the stock market crashed, and as the only remaining child that was still alive his mother Diana inherited everything, which of course, passed onto her children. Each one of her eight children had a trust fund set up for them from the minute they were born and they could all live very well off the interest alone. However, none of those trust funds have been touched, as that was just a drop in the bucket and Spencer has been paying for everything out of the Potters main account for the last three years. Spencer is one of the most sensible and well-rounded individuals I have ever had the pleasure to meet, especially considering how young he is. He refuses to let any of his siblings spend extravagantly and I've heard him tell them more than once that just because they have money and didn't have to struggle to make a living was no reason to show off. He told every single one of his seven siblings that the minute most people found out their family had a lot of money all the crazies would come out of the woodwork and try to find ways to get large chunks of it for themselves and he wasn't going to allow that to happen."

"You're right, he does sound extremely intelligent and sensible," Gideon agreed. "Did he ever go to college so since he graduated high school at 17? He would have to if he was training to be a doctor."

"He went to a small private school in Las Vegas where he and his family are originally from, but thanks to his parents deaths he never had a chance to get the full college experience, though he did get a degree online and passed with flying colors. Taking care of his seven siblings, although it's mostly the younger two who are 10 now is a full time job even with the help of a babysitting service when he has to work," Hotch said.

"So you said he's in training to be a doctor but he never went to college," Gideon said.

"He did take online courses to become one," Hotch pointed out calmly with a straight face, as this was not quite the truth, but he couldn't exactly be completely honest, "and he completed four years of education in less then two because he is that intelligent. He's only an intern, not a full doctor and apparently the other doctors accepted his online grades because he's doing quite well for himself and not just sitting idly around being bored. His siblings are still going to the same boarding school in Las Vegas, even though they now live in Virginia and the term starts again pretty soon."

"Why did they move here Virginia anyway?" asked Gideon more curiously than suspiciously. "Why not just stay in Las Vegas?"

"They needed a change," Hotch explained simply and also completely truthfully, "just like I did several years ago when I stopped being a federal prosecutor and went to the FBI Academy here at Quantico. Spencer told me that there were just too many memories for them to continue to live in that house after their parents deaths as all of them were grief stricken and getting extremely depressed and Spencer figured that they needed a change of scene. The house they are living in now has apparently been in the family for generations and it was also a wedding present from his grandparents on the Potter side to his parents. He told me of how they spent a great deal of time there for at least two weeks to a month in the summer every year where they got away from Las Vegas and his father away from his job. Spencer know that the house was more than big enough for all of them with rooms to spare and he discussed it with his siblings who all agreed that getting out of the house they had grown up in was a good thing. He said the most affected by their parents deaths were Hudson and Bronwyn, the twins who are now 10 years old, but then they were only 7, while the others were older and understood death better then a pair of 7 year olds."

"Yes, that makes sense," Gideon said after a moment. "Sometimes a change of scene is just what a person needs after a loved ones death and to lose both parents so close together well it was likely the right decision. Besides, who knows what kind of path the youngest two at least would have gone down if they hadn't gone away from all that sorrow and grief. That kind of heavy grief can effect you, especially when the friends of your parents keep telling you how sorry they are for your parents deaths and also being surrounded by all your parents things isn't very healthy either, especially when you are only a child and you don't understand why two people you love are suddenly not there anymore. Older children are more equipped to handle the death of a loved one, but not someone that young."

"Well, Natalie was only three years older which means she was 10 when they died, but the next oldest are Chance and Andrew another pair of twins who were 12 at the time, and finally Leah and Liya, twins again and who were 13 when it happened and then Spencer himself who was 17

"Three sets of twins?" asked Gideon in astonishment. He knew that it was theoretically possible to have more than one set of twins with the same mother and father just that it wasn't very common.

"I felt the same way you do now when I first found out and Spencer told me that his family tree is quite heavily loaded with twins, mostly fraternal, not identical. Of course, his family tree is also loaded with quite a lot of females as well, so that might have something to do with it since it is rumored that fraternal twins are the result of a woman ovulating more than one egg at a time. None of Spencer's twin siblings are identical, although his two twin brothers are so close to being identical you would swear up and down they were except for the fact the color of their eyes is different. If it wasn't for the fact that one has blue eyes and the other has golden brown like Spencer's you would swear that they were. The two youngest also look very similar and if it wasn't for the fact that they are the opposite sex you would also swear that they were identical as well, because they are the same height, have the same body type and also the same hair, nose, chin, cheekbones and eye color. Some of those attributes might change in a few years, but right now they really do look very similar to this each other with the same facial features and body types."

"So when did you meet this Spencer Reid?" asked Gideon.

"Almost three weeks ago," Hotch admitted. "I would've liked to have kept it from you for a little while longer, but I guess I was so happy that my body language betrayed me."

"So I'm assuming that you went through a get to know you stage before you actually got to..." Here Gideon paused, not willing to continue, but Hotch knew exactly what he was talking about and so he nodded.

"We did and I left the option up to Spencer as to when we took our relationship to the next level and he surprised me when he agreed to go there after only a little over two weeks. I figured it would take him at least a month, maybe two before we got there, but he told me soon after we had met, that Potters usually fall once and fall hard, so even though he's a Reid he does carry Potter blood thanks to his mother."

"I suppose the fact that we haven't had to go out of town in the last few weeks has helped you and him get to know each other faster," Gideon mused. "You met him at a good time, because we've only had one case and that was local, so that you could be home with him every night."

"Believe me, I've spent more time over at his house than I have in my own apartment over the last few weeks and in fact Spencer just asked me to move in with him and his brothers and sisters and I immediately agreed to it, as being away from him while we're out of town for work is going to be hard enough. Besides, there's no point of me paying for an apartment if I'm going to be spending all my free time over at his house anyway and now that we have bonded we really shouldn't be separated more than is necessary because of our jobs."

"If you need help moving I'm sure you can get the team to help you," Gideon suggested.

"Don't worry I've already got it covered," Hotch promised calmly. "Spencer and his siblings have already offered to help and I'm going to hire a U-Haul. A lot of it is either going to be given to charity, sold or put in storage, as a lot of my furnishing just don't fit the style of Spencer's house. I suggested that Spencer do it if we got called on a case, but he told me that he needed me there because he wouldn't know what I wanted to keep or what to put up for sale."

The two continued to chat and the other two members of the team trickled in slowly as it got closer to 9 o'clock and when they did Gideon immediately went back to his office after promising Hotch that he wouldn't mention what he had been told to his teammates and Hotch thanked him getting started on the paperwork that he had come in early to do, but had gotten distracted by talking to Gideon.

Hotch knew he would have to be careful about what he told the others about Spencer and his family for there was no way he could let slip that they were magical as they would surely think that he was ready for the loony bin if he did and he wouldn't be able to blame them for it either. Besides, he would never betray Spencer's secret like that, and it wasn't like this secret was dangerous, so he would have no trouble concealing it from those that didn't need to know. Now he appreciated more than ever the fact that sometimes the government enacted a need to know basis, as they kept a lot of secrets for the sake of national security, that the general population didn't need to know about and this was no different.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"So, Hotch man you look happy," Morgan finally commented, several hours after he had arrived at work.

"I am," Hotch said not volunteering any further information.

Morgan studied him for a few moments and then ventured a guess. "You found your mate, which is why you're so happy you're almost radiating it despite the fact that you're doing boring paperwork."

Hotch just smirked at him not verbally replying, which confirmed Morgan's suspicion.

"So how long ago was this just over this past weekend? Or longer?" asked Morgan.

Hotch didn't answer him and pretended to be involved in filling out a form.

"Oh, he's been very happy for at least the last three weeks, but today he's even happier than what's been normal for him lately," Rossi commented coming out of his office. "If I were to guess, which really isn't a guess at all, I would say that he met his mate about three weeks ago, but that they just cemented their bond over the weekend."

Hotch shot Dave the patented SSA Hotchner glare making the older man grin at him for he knew with that look that he was indeed correct.

"So is it a he or a she and are they a Shifter or a Normal?" Morgan asked.

There's nothing normal about Spencer Reid, Hotch thought smirking to himself, and I'm not just talking about his magical abilities.

"It's a he, and he's a Normal by the name of Spencer Reid and yes, I met him almost three weeks ago." Hotch went on to recount the incident with Spencer's sister and he was happy to see that the other members of the team were just as outraged at what Alexander had nearly done just as Gideon had been earlier that morning.

"So you said he has a sister does he have any other siblings?" asked Rossi.

"Seven of them all together," Hotch answered causing both Morgan and Rossi to look absolutely amazed.

"Eight children what parents have eight children in this day age?" Morgan sputtered.

Hotch shrugged and said, "Just so you know three sets of those are fraternal twins. A girl and a boy who are the youngest, two girls who are the oldest after Spencer, and two boys. Then there's also a single sister in between the two boys and boy/girl twins. Believe me, I was just as amazed when Spencer introduced me to them, but he said that the Potters have been known to produce a lot of fraternal twins over the last six hundred or so years, and that was his mother's maiden name."

"But supporting that many children..." Morgan said. "I mean I only have two sisters, but I know how hard my mom worked at two different jobs in order to support us after my father was murdered."

"Don't worry there is plenty of money in the family as the Potters are quite wealthy and are one of the few families that didn't lose their money when the stock market crashed in 1929. Since Diana Reid, Spencer's mother, was the last of this branch of the Potters she inherited all her parents money when they died, which came to Spencer when she died in a car crash several years ago, his father following less than a year later from a broken heart. Also Diana had plenty of money even before her parents passed away, as she had a fairly large trust fund according to Spencer anyway and his father was also an attorney and a very successful one from what Spencer has told me, so money is one thing they don't need to worry about."

"So why don't you tell us what you know about him?" Rossi suggested and Hotch complied repeating what he had told Gideon earlier about how Spencer and his siblings had grown up in Las Vegas originally, how after both their parents had passed away they have needed a change and how Spencer who was nearly 18 and had been in charge of his father's and mother's funeral.

"After that they decided together to move here to Virginia since the house they are now living in was a wedding present from the grandparents on the Potter side to his mother and father. He didn't want his siblings to be surrounded by all the memories without their parents there and it especially affected the two youngest who were then only 7, so he felt moving to a different location was the best thing for all of them. Spencer wanted to go someplace where there were still memories of their parents, but where they weren't surrounded by their things every day or all the people who had known them who thought nothing of saying how sorry they were at their parents deaths either not realizing or not caring that young children don't need to be constantly reminded that two people they had loved were no longer with them. Of course, it affected all of the Reids to different degrees, but most of them were old enough to understand what death meant. Besides, we all know what sly and thoughtless little innuendos people can make when they don't realize or just don't care that young ears are listening."

"Yes, you're right," Morgan said slowly. "It was bad enough for me and my two sisters when my father passed away, but we were not as young as..."

"Bronwyn and Hudson," Hotch supplied.

"Unusual names," Morgan commented before he continued with what he had been saying. "I mean I was 12 and my oldest sister was 15 while my younger one was 10, when our father was killed and truthfully it was still hard as all the cops my father had worked with came and offered their condolences, which were very sincere, unlike some peoples and at least once they did give them they dropped it and never mentioned it again. I remember spending a lot of time along with my sisters at our aunt's house since my mother was working so much and she helped us work through our grief."

"Spencer told me that moving was the right decision as getting away from the people that had known them helped all of them a great deal, but especially the youngest twins. Spencer told me that once they got way from all their parents associates and friends and the house that they grew up in with so many memories, that things slowly started to get better for all of them, because they weren't reminded of their parents constantly."

"So when do we get to meet this young man that you've been telling us about?" asked Rossi.

"As I told Gideon when he asked not for at least a few months, as both of us need time to settle into our relationship," Hotch said.

"So are you still keeping your apartment or have you moved in with him?" Morgan asked causing Rossi to chuckle as he had been thinking about asking the same thing, but Morgan had beat him in actually voicing the question.

"I am planning on moving in with him, as he just asked me to yesterday and no I don't need help moving for his siblings have already volunteered. A lot of the stuff is either going to be given away or put in storage in his basement," Hotch answered immediately, surprising both Morgan and Rossi with his immediate response to Morgan's rather nosy question.

Hotch chuckled at them and said, "I didn't see any reason to try to keep it from you since I knew you would see my change in attitude just like Gideon did earlier this morning and I knew that you would keep pestering me until I told you what you wanted to know, so I thought it was just easier to give in and tell you so you would leave me alone."

"So is this happiness going to be a permanent fixture in your life now?" asked Rossi boldly and Hotch actually chuckled again.

"You should be able to answer your own question without having to ask me since you're the one that knows the most about the Shifter race of anybody on the team, because of the things I've told you over the years," Hotch said.

Rossi thought about all the information that Aaron had given him about Shifters in general and wolf Shifters in particular over the years, concluding that now that his protégé had found his mate and the bond had been accepted and cemented over the weekend that Hotch would indeed be in a good mood most of the time, even if most people wouldn't know it, except for those that knew him best.

"What about children?" asked Morgan having come to the same conclusion that Rossi had for he knew that if he was getting sex on a regular basis, especially from the one that he was meant to be with he would certainly be in a permanent good mood. Unfortunately, he wasn't a Shifter, although he did have some Shifter blood, but then many people did, so it wasn't in the least unusual.

"We can always adopt," Hotch said with a shrug, "and Spencer seemed in favor of that idea when I mentioned it."

"Whoah! You two are already talking about adopting!" Morgan exclaimed impressed.

"Well, we both wanted to know if either one of us wanted pups," Hotch explained calmly, "a few years down the road of course. For right now that's all it is, a discussion that was to determine if we wanted pups in a few years, but since we both do I can see us both putting our names down on every list there is and even then I know there's no guarantees and you know what I mean. Our job isn't exactly the safest out there, and our application might be denied just because of the danger involved in my work, or even because we're both the same-sex and even though it's supposed to be illegal to discriminate against someone for that reason it still happens far to often."

"Think positively instead of about all the things that could go wrong," Rossi told his friend and Hotch nodded, although he couldn't help but think about all the stuff that could go wrong when they did try to adopt in a few years. "I'll be happy to be a character witness if necessary."

"Thanks, Dave," Hotch said gratefully.

"You're welcome," Rossi assured his friend.

The three men returned to their paperwork and Hotch for his part had trouble concentrating which wasn't normal for him, but he couldn't help but think about what would happen when he got home. He was looking forward to it, to going home to his family more than he ever had to his apartment or to Haley for the brief time they had been married, as both his apartment and the house had lived in when he had been married to Haley had just been places to sleep, but not really place he considered home since he was hardly ever there. His marriage to Haley had been a mistake he knew that now and that he never should have given into family pressure, but that was now in the past and he couldn't be happier with Spencer, so it was best not to thing about his failure of a marriage.

As soon as five o'clock rolled around, Rossi came out of his office and Morgan rose from his desk heading for the elevator. For once Hotch didn't stay behind to do any paperwork and also rose from his desk joining his two teammates in the elevator just before the doors closed.

"Impatient are you?" Rossi teased him and Hotch simply looked at him and his expression said clearly that that should be obvious.

"I wonder why?" Morgan added with a sly wink at Hotch as the elevator descended.

"Alright, that's enough you two," Hotch cut off anymore comments. "Let me lay down some ground rules before this goes any further. One: when you do meet Spencer you're not to tease him about our relationship, as he is still basically very shy in that area and you will ruin any chances of getting close and becoming friends with him if you don't get to know him before you start teasing. Two: There will be no teasing about my relationship at work, as I'd like to keep it as quiet as possible and no not because I'm ashamed of it, but because other people would be nasty about it just because they are against such relationships. It wouldn't matter that I'm a Shifter with a true mating gene that activated when I turned 16 or that I didn't have any say in the matter, as to who my mate would be or what sex they were. Now while those kind comments wouldn't bother me my relationship is private and not anybodies business, they would bother Spencer and he's bound to visit me here in the office sometimes."

"So, you just want to keep your relationship as low-key as possible," Morgan said who was certainly able to understand that point of view as Hotch was just trying to protect the man he loved from peoples unsolicited and unasked for opinions, most of which would be nasty and uncalled for, not that that would stop people from being rude or getting into Spencer's or Hotch's personal space in order to tell them exactly what they thought about two men being in a relationship, whether or not their opinions had been asked for.

"Alright, I won't tease him until we get to know each other," Morgan promised and Rossi nodded in agreement.

"Good, thank you," Hotch told his two teammates gratefully. "Once you get to know him you'll see how much you both have in common with him as he would have made a good member of the BAU despite being only 20, because he really is extremely intelligent. He reads more and faster than I've ever seen anybody read and his house has a large library with thousands of books. His memory is also eidetic and I know I don't need to explain to you what that means."

"He never forgets anything he reads, or sees," Rossi said looking impressed despite himself. "Now there is a very rare talent, as not many people have it."

"He knows something about almost any subject you can imagine, because as I said he reads a great deal, especially while his siblings are in boarding school for nine months of the year," Hotch said. "He is constantly adding to that library of his and the few books I own will fit right in. I also might add that he's read every single one of your books, Dave and could quote you back any page you liked out of any of them word for word," Hotch added with a grin.

Dave looked impressed again and knew he would now have to meet this young man, although he realized that would probably not be for several months at least and maybe longer, as he knew Hotch had been serious when he had said he intended to keep Spencer all to himself for at least the next few months and for that he could hardly blame his protégé since the bond between them was still very new and needed time to settle.

The elevator dinged once it reached the garage and when the doors opened the three man stepped out and said goodbye to each other and headed to their separate vehicles to head home, Hotch especially eager and with a spring in his step.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Two years later

"Addison, I know this is going to seem a rather odd question, but Aaron and I really want children, we are considering adoption, but what I want to know, is there anyway for me to have them naturally with magic? I mean I've never heard of such spell, but that doesn't mean that one doesn't exist," Spencer asked his mentor.

Addison stared at his protégé, from his chair that was behind his desk in his office having expected something like this for sometime now, because he knew that Spencer wanted a family of his own and although adoption was an option he could understand the desire to have children of your own blood.

"There are a couple of spells that were invented a few years back," Addison said. "These spells will give a man an artificial womb and allow him to carry an embryo or embryos to term. As the time of the birth approach the man will develop a vagina, so that the baby can be born naturally."

"Is it reversible?" asked Spencer astonished at what he was hearing knowing that he would have to research this himself just to make sure that what he was being told was correct, even if he didn't believe Addison would ever deliberately lie to him.

"It is," Addison assured.

"So who created these spell you were telling me about?" asked Spencer curiously.

"Well, there was a man by the name of Daniel a few decades back," Addison begin to explain. "He and his wife desperately wanted children, but it turned out that the woman he loved was infertile. They tried to adoption and were turned down, so finally, Daniel, who was a very intelligent man decided to see if he could create his own charms that would allow a man to get pregnant. It took him months of effect as he had to do a lot of research, but finally he created two spells that he believed would work. He took his newly created spells to a healer that he knew and the healer was amazed believing that it would work once he had studied it. He told the man that in order for this spell to work he was going to have to extract some of his wife's eggs and he was also going to have to have some of his sperm as well. Unfortunately, Daniel and his wife had been told that not only was she infertile there was no way that she could carry a baby to term even with artificial insinuation, because of the Dragon Pox she'd had as a child. Now these two could have gone to IVF, since there is a magical adaptation of this muggle invention, at least here in the States, but it was very expensive and Daniel just didn't have the money, to do it that way and his wife was also unable to carry a baby to term or that would have been the perfect solution."

"So this Daniel created this spell because he didn't have the money for IVF and his wife wasn't a candidate for that likely because of the dragon pox she had when she was a kid," Spencer summarized.

"Yes, that's why since both Daniel and his wife truly wanted children and they had been turned down for adoption as I said. The muggles say that desperation is the mother of invention and I can definitely see Daniel being pretty desperate. In any case, that healer friend of Daniel's agreed to extract the eggs from his wife, and then take his sperm and create an embryo out of it. He then put the spells on Daniel after that embryo was created and inserted it into his artificial womb which had developed in the space of 24 hours. This was the first experiment of such a revolutionary technique created in order to have children and it worked to perfection, though that healer kept a very close eye on Daniel all doing his pregnancy, and as the time of the birth approached, even Daniel was amazed how he developed a vagina in order to give birth naturally. After such a successful experiment and the birth of their son, the healer wanted to write about the discovery in the medical journal promising to give Daniel full credit, which the man agreed to do so long as the healer promised that he would do the next child they wanted for free. He told the healer, that his wife and him had always wanted a large family, but until he had created those spells it was nothing more than a distant dream and in order to get his permission to place the spell in a medical journal he would agree to his terms or he would find another healer who would. He agreed to it immediately and even gave a wizards oath on it, because he recognized that this could revolutionize certain areas of magical medicine."

"You know this sounds like the perfect solution, but I think I'll look into it myself, before mentioning it to Aaron. Aaron is a very cautious man and he'll never allow me to have this charm placed on me unless he's sure it's relatively safe," Spencer said.

"Well, you did say he's a Shifter," Addison pointed out, "and you should know that they are renowned for being very protective of their mates and their children."

"Yeah, I know," Spencer admitted with a little smile as he thought of his mate. "That's one of the reasons I want to research this myself. Aaron's gone so much for work, that it should be easy to do my research without him finding out until I'm ready to tell him. If Aaron and I agree to go through with this will you do the spells?"

"Yes," Addison answered immediately. "You must really want children in order to even think about doing this."

"I do," Spencer answered, "and so does Aaron, which is why we were discussing adoption. Unlike in some families having children isn't about carrying on the family name. It's about having a little person that looks just like both of us to love, teach and watch grow, then once they are an adult who knows their place in the world and right from wrong, you can watch as they have the confidence to make their own decisions and their own mark in the world in their own time."

Spencer spoke passionately, but with conviction and Addison believed that if his protégé and his mate did have children that they would be loved and taught to be good people, unlike in some families where they were only born in order to carry on the family name or because it was expected. People who hated, were indifferent or disliked children shouldn't bother to have any of their own, but they often did anyway for one reason or another.

"Good, it will take me awhile to research this thoroughly," Spencer said. "So it isn't going to be done anytime in the next few months."

"Just tell me when you're ready to proceed, and I'll come over to your place," Addison offered.

"I will," Spencer promised.

The two continued to chat for awhile, before they went to do their rounds heading in opposite directions, but they both knew without it actually being spoken out loud that they would be discussing this again at some point.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	4. Chapter 4

"So what are you studying so intently?" Hotch asked, as he came into the library where Spencer had been spending a great deal of his free time lately.

Spencer looked up in surprise as he had been so deep into what he was reading that he had never heard Hotch approach him, but then his mate could be silent when he wanted to be and Spencer knew it had a lot to do with Aaron's Shifter blood.

"You're probably going to think I'm crazy, but I found a way for us to have children naturally," Spencer began. "You see I really wanted children that look like a combination of both of us, so I asked my mentor at St. Murphy's Hospital and he told me that it was possible for a wizard to have a baby naturally with this new treatment and that it was reversible as well."

"Spencer stop and explain to me exactly what you mean," Hotch ordered gently.

"Well, as I said I really wanted children that shared both our genes," Spencer begin to explain more slowly, as his mate took a seat at the long table beside him, "and so I asked my mentor at where I work if this was possible or if it was just wishful thinking on my part, because you see I know that magic can do a great many things that Shifters or muggles would consider impossible. I mean even if a muggle male has a sex change operation they still can't have children, but..."

"But with magic having pups naturally is possible," Hotch said slowly looking as if he had been hit over the head with a sledgehammer because his whole world view had just shifted from what he had believed he had known and that was having pups naturally was impossible considering that he and Spencer were the same-sex.

"It is," Spencer explained as he waved a hand at all the books that were spread out over the table. "I was just doing my own research to see if I understood the concept behind it and if it was completely safe."

"So why don't you explain to me how it's possible for the two of us to have pups naturally considering what we are," Hotch suggested.

Spencer did as Aaron requested and Hotch listened intently and slowly it all begin to make a weird kind of sense.

"Alright, let me see if I've got this straight," Hotch again. "Your mentor Addison told you, that all you would have to do in order to have pups naturally, would be to have two spells cast on you that would turn you're insides temporarily into a female, You would develop a uterus and everything else you needed to be able to get pregnant naturally overnight, but you would keep your male bits until it was near the time of the birth and then they would slowly change into a vagina so that the baby or babies could be born naturally. Also all we would have to do after this magic was done would be to have sex just like we normally would and you should be pregnant after that, so long as we waited twenty-four hours before starting this little experiment, so that the spells have time to settle into your system and the womb has time to fully develop."

"More or less," Spencer agreed, "and believe me, I know how it sounds, but magic can be used for many things and nobody would notice any difference until I was few months along, and when I started showing I would simply cast an illusion spell that would let people think they were seeing me as I normally look, but if anybody were to hug me for instance they would feel the difference. This technique was developed sometime in the 90s, because of the fact that a lot of witches have trouble getting pregnant for one reason or another, especially pureblooded ones and this seemed like a good way to the person that invented the process for those people to have the families they want without having to adopt as a lot of the older families are against that anyway."

"I have to admit what you propose is rather interesting, but I'm not sure I want to risk your life in that way, even if I do want pups, especially since we can always adopt," Hotch said.

"You wouldn't be risking my life," Spencer assured him with a tender smile understanding his mate's concern. "I would never have mentioned it or brought it up at all if I didn't believe it was perfectly safe and after all females have been going through this process for thousands of years and it would be no more dangerous for me than it would be for one of them. If there is one area that us magicals are ahead of you muggles that's in our medical advancements. We can heal injuries that would kill a muggle or at least incapacitate them for the rest of their lives."

"You said it's reversible, right?" Hotch asked and Spencer nodded in confirmation. "All right, if what you say is true and I'm not doubting that it is no matter how weird it sounds, I only see one problem."

"What's that?" asked Spencer.

"How do we explain to the people we are close to, those not magical anyway, where our pups came from and especially why they look so much like both of us. Believe me, we will have to have a logical explanation for the team in particular, for I know they won't believe that one of our relatives died suddenly and we were their only living relations or it's possible they will, but if we decide to do this more than once I know they'll never believe it a second time. I would just like to have our story worked out and make it as believable as possible before we even consider doing this."

"That's easy," Spencer told him with a slow easy smile an expression he had developed over the last two years, as his confidence in certain areas had soared, which Hotch was more than happy to see happen. "There're spells that will make them believe that they are our relatives children or ones that will make them ignore and not question the similarities between them and us. The spells are harmless and won't do them any damage, they will just make them look past the children, and not question where they came from. It will be like there is a filter on their eyes and minds that will prevent them from questioning you or me or anybody else on this particular subject. We can also do it on anybody that we need to like their future teachers if they begin to get suspicious."

Hotch thought about it, but he was leaning towards doing it because he really would like pups of his own blood as well as Spencer's, probably because eventually marrying and procreating had been drilled into all his siblings from the time they were small, by their father. Doing magic on muggles bothered him a little, but Spencer assured him it was harmless and he knew his mate would never even have suggested it if it would damage the muggle in question, especially not ones he considered as part of his family. Hotch knew intellectually that magic was done on muggles all the time if they saw something that they shouldn't have for instance and therefore, a memory charm was applied to make them forget it. Because Spencer had known this was the way the magical world worked he had presented Hotch with a magical medallion with the Potter crest on one side and the Reid crest on the other, and along the edges were curved a series of runes, that Spencer had assured him offered him the best magical protection from somebody who tried to cast a memory charm or most any other magic, except the Unforgivables, on him. Spencer had told him that once a witch or wizard saw this medallion even law enforcement officers wouldn't dare do anything to the person that wore it, for they would bring down the wrath of the ancient Noble House of Potter as the Potter name still carried a great deal of weight even here in America. The medallion had many strong magical protections on it, but one that Hotch really liked was that it couldn't be removed from his neck by anybody except him and Spencer and therefore, it could never be stolen. This medallion also had another purpose, as it allowed him to see magical places that were normally hidden from muggle or Shifter eyes, without him having to be with Spencer or one of his siblings. It was very likely that he would never enter a place that was protected magically without Spencer with him, but it was nice to know he could if he had to.

Hotch hid the medallion under his shirt and he had never taken it off since it had been given to him, not even while he and Spencer were making love or in the shower so nobody, except the two of them knew he had it and that was just fine with him.

The medallion was silver and when he had asked Spencer why he had chosen silver since it tarnished so badly, he remembered his mate grinning at him and telling him that it might be silver, but that it would never tarnish, because of the anti-tarnishing spell he had placed on it. He had explained that gold wasn't conducive to magic or at least it didn't hold it very well, not to mention it was to soft a metal, and silver was a harder metal and also held magic well, which was why the medallion was made out of that material.

Hotch remembered being very surprised at that and he knew he should be used to magic by now, but occasionally what it could do still caught him by surprise.

"Alright, we will try this once," Hotch decided finally. "However, before I fully agree to let you do this, I want your promise, your sworn wizard's oath, that if it looks like you are going to be harmed by this, you will immediately go to St. Murphy's and depending on the problem you will either have them reduce the number of babies you are carrying or you will have an abortion because I cannot lose you, not for such a stupid reason. Yes, losing any of our pups will hurt me and you both, but losing you is not an option for me because it wouldn't just hurt me it would utterly destroy me, especially since we haven't been together all that long," Hotch said in his Alpha voice that let Spencer know that he was completely serious and he would not be backing down from his conditions for going through with this experiment. "Also if the healer orders you onto bed rest for the rest of your pregnancy you will obey even, though I know you don't do well with confinement, because you know that the healer wouldn't order it if wasn't to protect you or the babies or both."

"The way you talk you're acting as if you are absolutely certain that I will have more than one," Spencer told his mate with a smile to let his mate know that he wasn't upset with the conditions and that he understood where he was coming from.

"You know very well that thanks to me being a Shifter and also with the Potter history of having twins, that it is at least a 85 to 90% possibility that you will have at least twins if not more," Hotch replied with a half smile.

"94.4," Spencer told Hotch helpfully.

"There you see," Hotch said realizing that his mate had done the calculations in his head in less than thirty seconds, which still amazed him, even though he was well used to Spencer's intelligence and the quickness of his mind by now. "Also I want your word right here and right now, that if it is more than quintuplets that you will have them reduced and believe me, I'm stretching what I know is safe as I would prefer to say quadruplets or even triplets."

"Don't worry here in America quintuplets are quite common in wizarding families and most of the time the witches come out of it perfectly healthy," Spencer promised his mate. "I've done my research on this subject quite thoroughly and I was just considering when to bring it up with you, when you came in here and asked me what I was researching so intently."

"So you've been researching this for awhile then," Hotch accurately guessed for he knew Spencer well.

"Mostly while you're out of town for work," Spencer admitted, "for the last six months or so. Believe me, with all my siblings in school and you working I've had plenty of time to devote to it in between my shifts at St. Murphy's."

Hotch knew that his mate had the uncanny ability to put whatever he was working on aside when they were spending time together and not even consciously think about it, which would explain why he hadn't known about this little project of Spencer's until just now.

"You will give me your oath," Hotch reminded his mate, "your magical oath that you will do as I have asked of you, before I will let this little project proceed to the next step."

Thanks to Spencer, Hotch knew much more about the wizarding world now then he had when they had first gotten together two years ago and he knew that for a wizard or witch to give their magical oath, it was their bond and that they would have to keep their word or lose their magic.

"All right," Reid immediately agreed and quite easily surprising Hotch, as he figured his mate would argue with him about his conditions, but then Spencer was much more sensible than many young men his age, so perhaps, he shouldn't have been surprised. Reid took his wand out of his arm holster and added, "I know you fear losing me, just as I do you and so I, Spencer William Reid give you my solemn vow that I will do everything that you have asked of me and not put my life in danger deliberately. Further I swear, that I will follow the instructions of my mentor Healer Addison, and if I find I am carrying more than quintuplets then I will have them reduced, so long as it is safe for me to do so. Further I give you my solemn word that if Healer Addison feels that my life is in danger, because of the babies I am carrying and recommends an abortion then I will not argue with him and go through with it, this I swear! Also I swear on all I hold sacred and dear that I would never leave you or deliberately put myself in a situation that it was possible I would be killed. Also I will obey the commands of my mate and partner one, Aaron Hotchner as I know he has only the best intentions towards me in his heart." Each time Spencer finished swearing to one of the conditions that Hotch had laid down a lick of golden flame came out of the tip of his wand and wrapped like a ribbon around his and Hotch's clasped hands. "So mote it be!"

As Spencer finished speaking the golden flamelike ribbon that had been coming out of the tip of his wand and wrapping round both Hotch's and Spencer's clasped hands faded into their very skin.

"Whoah! That was strange," Hotch said shaking his head as if to clear the cobwebs.

"Yes, it is," Spencer agreed calmly, as he leaned over to kiss Hotch on the lips, which the other man accepted with pleasure. "The only reason I included you in the oath by clasping your hand like that was because it will give you the power to stop me from doing anything stupid. For this little project you now have a kind of a magical pull over me where you can order me to do something for my own good that I would struggle against obeying if you used your Alpha voice on me, but this will make me, without a fuss."

"Yes, there has been a time or two where even using my Alpha voice you struggle against obeying me," Hotch remembered, "which I find extraordinary since for most people they can't disobey when I use that voice."

"I'm sure it has to do with the fact that I'm your True Mate and we share a bond," Spencer pointed out and Hotch nodded. "I believe that this allows me to struggle against your commands, when I really, really don't want to obey them."

"I've never heard of this happening before," Hotch admitted, "although I'm sure it has at some point. What I mean is that another Alpha that had the same commanding personality as I have, would not have to obey the command unless they wanted to. However, someone who was still an Alpha, but with a weaker personality would more than likely obey a stronger Alpha. You, however, are not an Alpha for you have a really quiet and gentle personality most of the time that just screams omega, but you have swung between your normal omega position and beta occasionally, when you need to."

"What can I say except us Reids can be stubborn when necessary and while I prefer to be nice all the time occasionally, I have to become something else just to get my siblings to obey me or some of the patients that I work with at St. Murphy's. I'm sure you'll find, that most healers or doctors for that matter have really gentle and nice personalities as the good ones really want to help people, but you will also find that us in the medical profession can go from being nice, kind, patient, understanding and gentle to being stubborn and commanding in order to get a patient to do what they are ordered, like drinking nasty potions that will help them get better."

Hotch thought about it and realized that Spencer was right as he or one of the team had been in the hospital on multiple occasions over the years and most doctors were very nice people, but most of them also had a very stubborn part to their personalities and he was sure that healers were the exact same way since they were technically doctors after all.

"So when will you have those spells placed on you, so you can get pregnant like a normal woman?" asked Hotch curiously.

"Immediately," Spencer told Hotch with a joyous smile. "I have my mentor on standby and he's agreed to Floo here the minute I call him and do the spells. I want so much to be pregnant before you have to leave on yet another case."

"You've been planning this," Hotch accused him half seriously.

"I have," Spencer admitted, "I was just checking a few of my facts, before I brought this to your attention. My mentor told me about the process, but I wanted to do my own research just in case and not because I don't trust Addison's word."

"You just wanted to add even more books to your already huge library," Hotch accused him this time playfully.

With those words Spencer knew that his mate wasn't really mad at him and he was sure the only reason he wasn't, was because he had been planning all along to come and discuss it with him when he was done checking his facts.

"That might've been part of it," Spencer admitted with a blush. "This library isn't even half the size, of the one rumored to be in our ancestral home in England known as Potter Manor. Several generations of our family whether with the surname Potter or not have added to this library to where it has thousands of volumes. However, the one that is rumored to be at Potter Manor is supposed to be tens of thousands books, some of which have likely been out-of-print for decades or even longer. Also though my mother and grandparents taught all of their grandchildren to never trust the word of another on something this important, because people can be extremely two-faced, so it was just safer to do my own research on the matter, even though I trust Addison."

"Your grandparents and mother were right as some people can be extremely two-faced. I know you trust your mentor, but it is better to check the facts yourself or at least get a second opinion just to be on the safe side," Hotch agreed. "Why don't you call Addison and have him come over to do the spells and once he leaves I believe we can go up to our bedroom and make love."

"Spells or not you would still want to make love," Spencer playfully accused him causing Hotch to grin.

"Of course, I would," Hotch agreed, being completely truthful, "but with those spells on you this just gives me added incentive because to have pups of our own with both of your DNA and mine is a dream come true for me."

"Me too," Spencer said softly leaning over to kiss Hotch on the lips his tongue demanding entrance to his mate's mouth, which was immediately granted. "I never would have asked Addison if it was possible for a male to get pregnant if I hadn't really wanted children that are related to both of us and if there hadn't been a way then adoption would have still been an option."

The two of them kissed for quite sometime until finally Hotch broke away and pointed to the fireplace. "Go call Addison before I throw you over my shoulder and take you upstairs spells or no spells."

Spencer laughed, but knew his mate was serious, so turned to the fireplace and took a pinch of Floo powder from the container on the mantle and after getting a roaring fire going with a little magic he threw the powder onto the flames and then stuck his head in once the flames had turned green.

Hotch watched this in no little amazement, even though he had seen it several times before over the last two years, but that didn't mean it didn't still astonish him.

Finally after less then five minutes his mate pulled his head out of the flames and stood up.

"He'll be here in just a few minutes, as soon as it gathers everything he needs," Spencer reported.

"What does he need besides, his wand to cast the spells?" asked Hotch with a raised eyebrow.

"He just needs a couple of items to do an exam afterwards to make sure the spells aren't affecting me in a negative way, which has been known to happen a few times, as some men just aren't able to have this done to their bodies because of weak hearts or something similar. Don't worry this is normal procedure and because I'm a man, he's going to become my personal healer for the duration of this pregnancy and has agreed to do weekly home visits."

"They keep a close eye on a woman's pregnancy to, especially when it's twins or more or at least they do at the normal hospital," Hotch pointed out.

"Yes, they do, however, the healers at St. Murphy's keep an even closer eye on somebody like me, because it's not really natural for a man to have a child in this way."

"Tell me about it," Hotch teased him finally beginning to accept that he and Spencer would be able to have pups with both their genes, thanks to magic. Of course, he intended to watch his mate carefully when he was home and when he wasn't he was going to call him a dozen times day if at all possible just to make sure he was well.

Suddenly the flames in the fireplace turned green again and Addison's head appeared in the flames. Addison was an older man who looked to be at least in his 50s with graying blond hair and bright blue eyes. "Can I come through?"

"Of course," Spencer immediately replied and as soon as he did Addison's head disappeared out of the fireplace and just a few seconds later the older man came through and stepped into the library.

"Well, let's get started, shall we?" Addison said producing several pieces of paper. "I need both of you to sign this paperwork saying that you won't hold St. Murphy's responsible if anything goes wrong. This is standard procedure," Addison told Hotch who looked unsure. "This procedure is still relatively new as it's less than 15 years old and although St. Murphy's has done it dozens of times to help families have children ever since the spells were first created, that doesn't mean it isn't without risk, just like any relatively new procedure. We have a very high success rate."

Hotch looked over the paperwork very carefully, but once he was done he nodded for it was just your standard policy that said the hospital could not be sued for something that had gone wrong for this procedure was just like any multiple pregnancy for a woman, risky.

"I have a couple of questions for you before I'll allow you to proceed," Hotch began and Addison nodded, as he had expected nothing less, especially once Spencer had told him that the man he had settled down with had used to be an attorney before joining the FBI. Thanks to his and Spencer's close relationship as mentor and apprentice he knew all about the bond that the two men shared and that Aaron Hotchner was a wolf Shifter and Spencer Reid was his one and only mate. Addison knew that Shifters and veelas were the only two species that had True Mates and once they were found could not leave them for any reason, well not unless they wanted to be miserable, but that was after the bond was completed by having sex. After they'd had sex for the first time neither a Shifter or his mate, no matter what species he or she was could leave the other without facing the consequences. Addison had always been fascinated by Shifters, so had done his own research years ago and if what he had read was true, he could understand why Hotchner was being so cautious, although he knew that Spencer's mate also being an attorney as well as an agent of the FBI only added to his rather suspicious nature.

"My first question is, would you be willing to do an abortion if it became necessary to do so."

"Yes," Addison immediately answered, "I know enough about Shifters to know that you cannot lose your mate, especially not for such a preventable reason. I would have to take him back to St. Murphy's to do the procedure, as it can't done here, but yes, I would be willing to do that. I would also be willing to reduce the number babies if Spencer happens to get pregnant with more then is considered safe, as from what I have read it is very possible that he will end up carrying multiples, simply because Shifters are just like their animal counterparts in that way."

"Which would be how many by your estimate?" asked Hotch.

"No more than five," Addison answered, "as the healers of St. Murphy's have delivered five babies at one time all perfectly healthy, if small."

"Yes, that's exactly what I got Spencer to agree to before I let him call you," Hotch said with a nod liking Addison more and more, as he seemed to genuinely care about his patients. "I know even five is pushing it at least in the muggle world, but Spencer has informed me that magical medical procedures are way ahead of their muggle counterparts."

"In certain areas that's true," Addison admitted, "In other areas however, the muggles have us beat although you wouldn't get most magical folks to admit that, especially healers. When it comes to delivering babies and looking after the mother's or in this case the father's health we do have the muggles beat, however, in some ways we are sorely lacking and way behind the muggle world."

"Alright, this is my second and last question," Hotch said. "Would you be willing to do anything possible to make sure that both Spencer and the babies were born healthy and alive including confining him to bed if necessary?"

"Yes," Addison answered immediately. "I am a dedicated healer, although I realize that some get into the profession for the money not because they care, but believe me, when I tell you I am not one of them. In the five years we have worked together I've come to think of Spencer like a son and I would never put a patient whether or not I knew them personally, life in danger."

Hotch studied Addison's expression and body language before finally nodding. "Alright then, I'm willing to try this as an experiment, and if it goes well I might be willing to let Spencer do it again in three or four years, but that is for the future."

Hotch took the pen that Spencer handed him and signed his name to the bottom of the contact and once he had done so it glowed golden for a moment before accepting his signature. Hotch immediately handed the pen to his mate, who also signed his name where the same thing happened.

"Alright then, I just have one more thing to say to you before I cast the spell," Addison said. "I want both of you to think about hiring a private nurse since I know that you, Mr. Hotchner are gone a lot, for work. Spencer doesn't need to be alone, especially in the latter stages of pregnancy and since his brothers and sisters are at boarding school for most of the year, there would be no one here to help him when he needed it. I can recommend you someone that is very good at what she does and she is nice and pleasant so long as you follow her instructions."

"That's a very good idea," Hotch said and the look he shot his mate told him not to protest because this was necessary and would give him peace of mind while he was out of town working.

"All right, I'll agree on a trial basis, but if she annoys me to much she's gone," Spencer told both men.

"I'm not saying that she won't be annoying occasionally, especially when she tries to get you to do something that you don't want to do, however, you have to see that this is necessary," Addison said giving his protégé a stern look. "There will be a time that you will not be able to take a shower by yourself or dozens of other things that you would normally find very easy to do and you will need help when that day comes. She will be here to make sure that you don't overdo and that you eat a proper diet for the health of yourself and your babies."

"Alright," Spencer finally conceded.

"Good, I'll call her just as soon as I leave you and I will be back in two days to visit you to make sure that you are indeed pregnant. Remember you must not make love for at least 24 hours so that the spells have a chance to really take hold of your system."

Hotch nodded, although if the truth be known he hated that particular part of this procedure, for he craved his mate constantly when he was home, but he could do it if he had to and the restriction didn't mean that Spencer and him couldn't do some heavy petting just so long as no actual penetration took place.

With that last warning Addison took out his wand and waved it in a complicated pattern around Spencer's body muttering words under his breath after telling Hotch to stand well out of the way.

Finally 10 minutes and two spells later, Addison sat down in one of the comfortable chairs that were part of the long table that Spencer had been working at earlier.

"You okay?" Spencer asked him, concerned.

"I'm fine they are just very long and complicated spells that take quite a bit of power," Addison explained touched by his protégé's concern. "Once I eat something, get some sleep that is and some Pepperup potion wouldn't go amiss either. Really we don't get more than a few male patients a year whose wives can't get pregnant for one reason or another, so it isn't a spell that is used very much, we've also used it on several same-sex couples over the years, all men of course."

"Thank you for doing this," Spencer told his mentor and Addison gave him a tired smile.

"You're welcome," Addison said, "but I'm just doing my part as a dedicated healer. Now if you don't mind if I use your Floo since I'm too tired to Apparate and I'll be on my way. I'll see you again on Monday."

"Help yourself," Hotch offering the older man the container Floo powder so Addison could take a pinch to throw it onto the flames.

"Thank you," Addison said with a grateful smile shaken Hotch's and Spencer's hands. "It was so nice to finally meet you after hearing Spencer talk about you so much over the last couple of years."

"It was nice to meet you as well," Hotch replied being very sincere, as he sincerely liked the older man who was his mate's mentor.

Addison took a pinch of Floo powder from the container and threw it onto the flames and as soon as they turned green he announced his address and stepped in, immediately being whooshed away.

"Well, that was rather…informative," Hotch said.

"For me as well," Reid admitted taking his mate's hand. "So what do you want to do for the next few hours since we can't make love?"

"Well, I thought I'd take you out to a nice dinner, because since the team didn't catch a case today that means that none of us has to work the weekend. Also perhaps, we can go to a movie or find something else to do, at least until this same time tomorrow night when I can finally make love to you again like I want to."

"Just because we can't make full-blown love that involves penetration that doesn't mean that we can't do some heavy petting," Spencer said with a smirk.

"I had already thought of the same thing, although we will have to be careful not to go to far," Hotch said also with a smirk that was positively evil making Spencer shiver with desire, "because there is a such thing as a point of no return."

"You know I'm glad I wrote my brothers and sisters and happy they didn't think I was nuts for wanting to try this," Spencer commented suddenly, "In fact if their letters are any indication they are excited for both of us."

"Well, they are growing up," Hotch pointed out, unsurprised that Spencer had written his siblings to get their opinions, since they were quite close. "Part of it I'm sure is that you actually wrote them and asked for their opinions even Hudson's and Bronwyn's who are the youngest and in their second year at that private magical school. Would you have still done it even if one of them had been against it?"

"Probably, if the others were for it," Spencer admitted. "I love my brothers and sisters, but I can't let one of their opinions dictate my life and they I'm sure would have eventually come around."

"Yes, they probably would have," Hotch agreed. "They love you after all and they would have loved any children you had once they had a chance to meet them and also realize that you wouldn't love them any less just because you now have children of your own. Luckily, they're all mature enough to know that you will still love them just the same even if this little experiment works out and that love is not like a piece of pie as it is infinite."

Spencer nodded and then led his mate to one of the comfortable couches that dotted the Reid library and pushing him onto it where he was immediately on top kissing his Aaron all over his face.

Hotch was startled at first at his mate's sudden aggressiveness, but certainly didn't mind and in fact leaned back to enjoy it. This rather happily occupied them for the next several hours until it was dinnertime, where Hotch took his mate out for a nice supper just as he had promised hours earlier.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

24 hours later

"So are you ready?" Hotch asked his mate who nodded enthusiastically.

"More than ready," Spencer assured Aaron with a wide grin. "It has seemed to take forever to get to this point, even though I know logically that it's really only been 24 hours, since Addison put those spells on me."

"Anticipation," Hotch suggested and Spencer nodded in agreement. "Believe me, I've been really excited as well, although I know this is just an experiment at this point."

"I can certainly understand why both of us are so excited. We both never believed something like this could happen until I asked Addison about having children of our own. Even I never believed we could have children naturally, that we wouldn't be able to have them at all unless we adopted. Now while there is nothing wrong with that it's different when they're going to share your blood and your DNA."

"I agree completely," Hotch said. "We certainly would have loved any pups we adopted, but this is different somehow. Now however, we certainly have another task before us even if it's a very pleasurable one so we can talk about this later."

"Do with me what you will," Spencer intoned waving his hand and when he did suddenly both he and Hotch were buck naked, their clothes having vanished somewhere and the bed was turned down and all without anything resembling a spell being uttered or a wand being used.

Spencer's little display of magic was rather impressive, but it also had another effect on one Aaron Hotchner and made his cock stand up straight as his mate's little display of power had seriously turned him on and made him incredibly horny.

"Well," Hotch said a little smile coming to his lips, "see what your display of power has done to me?"

Spencer looked down at his mate's cock that he had swallowed most of many times over the last two years and almost literally salivated. Suddenly he couldn't wait to feel his, Aaron's cock in his body just like it had been hundreds of times before over the last couple of years. He and Aaron made love quite a lot and in fact that was almost all they did, when he was home from work as the ardor, lust, desire and love they felt for each other had not faded one iota over the last couple of years and Spencer truly hoped that it never did, since their lovemaking was so damn spectacular. Of course, while both of them truly loved having sex, so long as it was with each other, that was not their whole relationship and they did many things together that didn't include staying in bed, no matter how pleasurable that was. They often went out to dinner or to the movies, and when his siblings were home from school both of them spent plenty of time with all of them as well, so that they didn't feel left out. The two of them did many things together where they were often seen in public holding hands. They had gotten more than one nasty glare over the last couple of years, but neither of them paid attention, as they didn't care what others thought so long as they were together. Most people weren't bold enough to actually approach them and tell them what they thought about two men in a relationship, but there had been a few and both men knew that there would be others over the years who were brave or perhaps, foolish enough to tell them exactly what they thought of two men in an obvious romantic and sexual relationship, not that it mattered. Many Normals just didn't understand what a Shifter instinctively knew and that was the sex of your spouse didn't matter, so long as you were happy as unlike Shifters, Normals didn't have a mating gene that activated when they turned 16. Normals could marry whoever they liked, and so could Shifters for that matter, but the difference was once a Shifter discovered their True Mate, they could never love another in that way, and it didn't matter if that mate was the same-sex that they were, at least in the Shifter community. Of course, Normals and even some wizarding folks thought differently, but that was just the way of the world.

One thing that both of them really loved was sometimes they talked for hours about anything, and everything. Both of them were allowed by the other to ask any question that they thought of and the other responded as honestly as possible. In this way, Hotch had learned quite a bit about the wizarding world and also more about his mate's childhood, while Spencer had learned about his childhood, college years and several other things.

Hotch well remembered how outraged his mate had been when he learned about his rather abusive childhood and he had barely stopped Spencer from going to find his mother and turning her into a slug. It wasn't that seeing his mother as a slug wouldn't be amusing and more then deserved, just that Hotch didn't want to see his mate lower himself to his mother's level.

Hotch rolled on top of his mate from what had officially become his side of the bed and he instantly saw that Spencer was indeed ready for him, as his cock was standing tall and proud, and it was obvious that his mate was more than ready to go, but then that wasn't surprising considering the two of them had to abstain from having sex for 24 whole hours, and usually the two of them couldn't keep their hands off each other for very long.

Hotch immediately started licking and nipping at his mate's nipple, causing Spencer to groan as pleasure begin to immediately course through his body.

It didn't take long at all both men to feel their climaxes draw near, but in this case neither one of them wanted a long, drawn out lovemaking session as both were excited wanting to know whether or not Spencer was pregnant after this, as strange as that sounded and besides, they hadn't had sex in 24 whole hours, so both were very eager to feel the other's body again as well as the others tender, loving, gentle touches.

Hotch got the lube off the bedside table, where it was sitting beside the lamp instead of being in the drawer, but since two of them used it so often it usually just stayed where either of them had easy access. If truth be known this was at least their 11 or 12 bottle since the two of them made love so frequently, in between Hotch's frequent trips out of town for work. Really they went through one bottle in the matter of two months or sometimes much less, depending on how often Hotch was gone because of his job.

Hotch slathered his cock thoroughly and then without ceremony shoved it into it into his mate's anus, which was visible due to the fact that had placed a plump pillow under his hips beforehand, in pleasant anticipation of what was about to occur.

Spencer whimpered a little in pain and Hotch forced himself to still, even as the wolf in his chest growled in protest, because he wanted to be sheathed fully in his mate's body after having been denied for a whole day, even if he knew it was for a good cause, namely pups, which it wanted, badly.

"I'm sorry," Hotch whispered in his mate's ear, hating the fact that he had caused the man he adored even a little pain even if he knew logically that there would always be some pain involved when two men had sex, since they just weren't made that way.

"It's okay, we both know there's always going to be a little pain associated with two men having sex and besides, the pleasure is so intense that a little pain is titillating," Spencer assured him in a low, husky voice that sent a stab of lightning straight to Hotch's groin causing him to groan as lust and desire swelled through his form as he felt his penis swell even more with his seed that wanted so badly to be released and that he was holding it back through sheer force of will.

Spencer groaned again, but this time in pleasure instead of pain and bucked his hips upwards, which was all the encouragement Hotch needed to shove his penis the rest of the way into his mate's body, until his cock was fully sheathed. Once Hotch felt Spencer's tight, warm passage squeeze his cock welcoming it home he could hold back his seed no longer and immediately his cock exploded dumping spurt, after spurt, after spurt into his mate's body, while at the same time both men went over the edge of their climaxes, which were more intense than they had ever felt before.

Hotch collapsed on top of this mate his cock still spurting stream after stream of semen making Hotch distantly wonder where it was all coming from, as before he and Spencer had met he had never had such strong climaxes nor had his cock swelled so painfully, or remained so until it was emptied into the warm, moist body of his mate.

It likely had something to do with the fact that he and Spencer were mates, Hotch speculated, as he could think of no other reasonable explanation as to why his climaxes had suddenly become so powerful or why his cock seemed to contain more seed then it ever had previously and therefore, spurted a lot more semen into his mate's body then he had ever been able to produce with any other person.

"We had better get some sleep," Spencer said, "since we both have to work in the morning."

"Don't want to," Hotch said in a childish voice. "I was denied the pleasure of your body for 24 whole hours and if you think I'm halfway done, dream on. I mean we make love for hours sometimes for a whole day once I get home from a case, but I least I haven't been near you for the whole time I've been gone and yet denied access to something I want that is so close."

"Do you think I'm pregnant?" Spencer asked out of the blue, although he knew that Aaron was as curious to that answer as he was.

"If you're not after the way my cock performed I'll be very astonished and completely flabbergasted," Hotch grinned. "I released at least a dozen long spurts into you, so if you're not pregnant with at least twins I'll be very surprised."

"I hope I am," Spencer said patting his still flat belly. "By the way I agree with you, as I'll be very surprised if I'm not pregnant with at least twins and I won't be at all astonished if it's more than that considering."

"Yes, considering," Hotch repeated by way of agreement. "So ready for another round before we get some sleep?"

"Definitely," Spencer agreed enthusiastically. "I'm never too tired to make love to you or for you to make love to me."

"Same here," Hotch agreed immediately. "We'll go a little slower this time now that we've gotten at least some of our pent up sexual frustration out of our systems."

"I never believed that I could ever be so sexually frustrated that I practically attack you the minute you walk in the door after you return from a case," Spencer said.

"It's the bond," Hotch explained to his mate who nodded as the was what he had already suspected. "This immediate need for each other will die down pretty soon as we've been together for two years already, but even when it does we will still have quite a bit of sex we just won't be quite so desperate for the other's body that we attack each other the minute we are back together again after one of us has been gone, although I admit that's usually me."

The two men fell silent, and Hotch immediately got back to what he had been doing having no trouble getting his mate close to the edge for he knew every single place his mate was extra sensitive to his gentle, loving touch, and so he took advantage of every single one.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Congratulations! You are indeed pregnant!" Addison announced after he had cast a series of spells on his protégé that would tell him whether or not he was indeed carrying a child.

"I am?" Spencer asked, as if he was unsure whether or not to believe it.

"You are," Addison assured his protégé patting him on the shoulder in a gesture of understanding.

The two men were standing in one of the examining rooms at St. Murphy's Hospital. Hotch had sent his mate a text message telling him to go ahead with the examination as the team had caught a case first thing and so wouldn't be there for the announcement like he had hoped. It was exactly one week later as Spencer knew that it would take at least that long for the spell that detected a fetus to work, since it took a few days for the embryo, which was all it was at that point to make itself known, and that was much sooner then the muggles could tell if a woman was pregnant.

"So can you tell at this point if I'm carrying more than a single fetus? I will be absolutely astonished if I'm not though considering," Spencer said.

"I don't need to know the details," Addison hastily interjected. "What two people do in the privacy of their own bedroom is their business."

Spencer looked up at Addison and immediately caught onto what he meant and blushed a brilliant red all the way from the tips of his ears to his cheeks. "You ought to know me well enough by now that I'm a very private person and I would never give you the details to what Aaron and I do in private.

"You're right," Addison admitted, "I'm sorry."

"It's all right," Spencer assured him with a very happy smile.

"I don't blame you for being so happy," Addison said seeing his protégé's expression. "Not many men are willing to go through the ridicule they will receive for going through this type of procedure. There is still a lot of prejudice, that says that women are the ones that have children and not the men even if there is some sort of perfectly logical medical reason why a woman can't get pregnant."

"They could be older, have a bad heart, be infertile even if she and her husband have been trying for years, been denied the adoption of a child for some reason..." Spencer said beginning list the obvious reasons why a woman couldn't get pregnant or been denied for adoption. "A woman even could've had a baby before, but lost them to some sort of accident and the healer told her that she shouldn't try to have another because it could kill her, so to me this is a perfectly logical reason for a couple to go through the procedure so that they can have a child."

Of course, in the case of a man and a woman, a healer extracted one of more of a woman's eggs from her ovaries and then implanted them surgically into her husband, once the proper spells had been cast as a woman didn't have the proper equipment in order to get a man pregnant naturally, but since this procedure worked just as well it didn't really matter.

"And there're many more reasons then the ones you listed, but yes, you've made your point why this procedure is such a good thing, even if a lot of people disagree, or even know that it exists," said Addison.

"It gives families that can't have children for one reason or another the ability to have as many as they want so long as they are willing to pay the hospital fees and have the money to take care of them once they are born," Spencer said and Addison nodded in agreement.

"As to your earlier question if I can tell how many fetuses you are carrying the answer to that is no, not right now as it is way too early," Addison said finally answering his protégé's earlier question. "I'll be able to tell in a month to six weeks, which is way sooner then the muggles can, but then our medical breakthroughs are much more advanced then theirs at least in this area."

Spencer nodded and accepted Addison's answer, because really that was the answer he had expected, but he'd had ask.

"Alright, why don't we set an appointment at the house for say a month from now?" Spencer suggested. "You can stay for dinner, and if I'm very lucky Aaron won't be gone for work, like he was this time, as he really wanted to be here when this examination was done, but texted me on his phone first thing to tell me to go ahead as he and the team had been called to San Francisco as they had a nasty serial killer."

"Sounds good," Addison agreed immediately, as he was genuinely fond of Spencer and enjoyed spending time with him. "You and your mate have it easy you know, because you are both men as you know the normal procedure for making sure that a man is indeed pregnant and it's certainly not the pleasurable experience that I've sure you and your mate had."

"Yes, I was just thinking that Aaron and I do indeed have a easy," Spencer admitted. "We had a great deal of fun, after the initial 24 hours had passed, while normally the procedure requires a woman's eggs to be extracted from her ovaries and then surgically implanted in her husband."

"Not many men, are willing to go through the pain associated with childbirth or the ridicule they receive once some people learn, despite the potions you can take for the pain, that childbirth brings," Addison said. "I very rarely have a repeat customer as most men are not willing to go through the ridicule or the pain more than once. Of course, when I do this procedure I normally implant at least two eggs, sometimes three so really there's no need to go through the procedure more than once for the most part."

"Not unless you want a large family and some people do," Spencer said. "As for me if this goes as well as I hope it will I would be willing to do it again to get more children, although certainly not for four or five years."

"Yes, your mate said something about that last week," Addison said.

"So he did," Spencer agreed. "He wouldn't have brought it up if he wasn't seriously considering allowing me to go through it again, but he's also a very careful and methodical man and has nearly unending patience for the most part. He'll wait to see how this pregnancy goes and if he feels it puts my life in danger then he won't allow me to do it again no matter how much both of us love children and arguing with him won't do any good, as once he makes up his mind there's no changing it, at not on something like this."

"I can certainly understand his point of view," Addison admitted. "I mean Shifters and veelas are the only two species that we know about that have True Mates, so of course, losing that mate, especially when it was entirely preventable is not an option."

"You know I just thought of this, but these children will be really special, because not only will they likely have my magic they'll all definitely be Shifters. The Shifter gene anyway is dominate and it would take several generations of Shifters marrying a Normal or someone magical for that gene to become inactive, but then if the next generation marries a Shifter, they to will have the ability to shift shape, no matter what that shape may be. Both of Aaron's parents were Shifters and therefore, it will be at least four, perhaps, five generations before his so many times great-grandchildren will lose the ability to shift, but only if none of the children marry a Shifter."

"There are a few Shifters out there with magical powers," Addison said and Spencer nodded.

"I know, but it still isn't very common," Reid said.

"No, it's not at least not here in America," Addison agreed. "I would estimate that there are no more than 50, maybe 100, but no more than that."

"And they're probably all from the same few families, children, grandchildren and so forth," Reid added.

"That's a reasonable hypothesis," Addison agreed. "So how many children do you and your mate intend to have if this procedure is successful?"

"Well, Aaron and I never really discussed it, but the Potters usually have anywhere from 15 to 20 children, and no I'm not saying that we will have that many just that it is a possibility, especially since twins run in the Potter family and wolf Shifters can have have anywhere between one to six children at one time."

"So you wouldn't have to get pregnant too many times to have the humongous family that you want," Addison summarized.

"Exactly," Spencer agreed with a happy smile, "and it isn't like there isn't room at the house to have that many children or pups as Aaron calls them running around and I have the gold to hire several fulltime nannies so it isn't really a problem."

"What are you going to tell your muggle friends, like your mate's coworkers?"

"Aaron and I have already worked out what we are going to tell them and unfortunately, it involves doing magic on them, but there really is no other way as distasteful as it is, because they are all extremely intelligent men and women and would notice the similarities between Aaron and I and our children immediately. Besides, it won't harm them or I would never do it," Spencer said and explained exactly what magic he was going to do when the time came.

"You could tell them that you went through the IVF process," Addison suggested.

"That might work if it's only two or three, but I can't see Aaron's team believing that we had more babies than that since they are so much work to take care of. We'll just have to see what we get when they're born. If they're identical we could probably get away with that explanation, but not otherwise as Aaron't team is very intelligent and observant and I don't see a way to prevent them from asking questions unless we do perform a little magic in order to redirect their attention elsewhere. Derek Morgan, especially has a very suspicious nature and it will take quite a bit for the suspicions to diminish, much less vanish completely."

"If you and your mate are that close to the people he works with maybe you should consider telling them the truth," Addison suggested.

"That's against our laws," Spencer pointed out.

"So if they don't accept your explanation you can always memory them so that they forget," Addison said and Spencer nodded. "If you and your mate believe that these muggles are trustworthy I would go for it, as it would make certain things in your lives much easier."

"Yes, that's true," Spencer admitted. "I'll bring it up with Aaron first chance I get and see what he thinks, although I think it's a good idea because, yes, I do trust the members of his team, although I worry how they will accept that magic is indeed real, if we do tell them as they aren't exactly the types to believe in something like that."

"Your mate did," Addison pointed out logically.

"Well, he really had no choice," Spencer said, "since he was the one that identified me as his True Mate. However, I did give him a practical demonstration, which helped convince him I could do what I said."

"You could do the same for your friends," Addison suggested.

"I'll think about it," Reid promised. "It's a very good suggestion and I never thought about telling them, because of our laws. However, I'm sure that other muggles that are not really closely related to a witch or wizard know to and as you suggested if they can't accept the information I can always do a memory charm, although I hate the thought of doing that to people that have rapidly become my family, along with Aaron and my siblings. I've gotten quite close to the members of Aaron's team and they're all very trustworthy and know how to keep their mouths shut, so if they do accept what they are told I know they won't blab. They wouldn't work for the FBI or the government at all if they didn't know how to keep their traps shut, because I know that they keep many secrets for the sake of national security."

"Well, then, since you trust them I would seriously consider telling them, although of course, it is your decision," Addison advised. "If you do decide to tell them I'm certainly not going to report you, since it was my suggestion that in the first place. While I understand why it is important to keep magic a secret from the general populace, I think it's silly to keep it from people you are close to and consider family, so long as they are trustworthy, because you an always memory charm them if they don't accept it."

"I will take your suggestion under advisement," Spencer told his mentor before leaving to head to the bookstore and pick up a few books.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"So Addison suggested that we tell the team your secret?" Hotch stated calmly after Spencer had finished explaining exactly what Addison had said.

"He did and I have to admit, it would be easier if we didn't have to hide the fact that these babies are going to be ours and not because we adopted them, but biologically."

It was several days after his appointment with his mentor and friend and Hotch had just returned home from a long, tough case, the previous day. Now it was morning and both of them had woken up early and had their morning sex before Spencer had brought the subject up

"Is it against your laws though?" asked Hotch with a frown.

"Technically," Spencer admitted, "but the laws aren't as strict here in America as they are elsewhere and unless one of the team is extremely stupid and opens their mouths and talks about it and they happen to be overheard by the wrong people... In any case, I've done my own research on this subject, and there are several precedents for telling a muggle who isn't immediate family. In any case, I know the team knows how to keep their mouths shut and so long as they do the magical government doesn't need to know."

"This is a big step, so we'll have to discuss this some more before we decide," Hotch said and Spencer nodded in agreement. "I like the idea a lot because I hate having to hide something so important from people I consider family, even if I know it's necessary to do so."

"How do you think the members of the team will react?" asked Spencer in genuine curiosity. "I just want your impressions before I give you my own since you've known them much longer, well most of them anyway."

Hotch thought about it for a long moment his expression distant, but finally he said, "I believe most of them will accept it once you give them a practical demonstration, all except for Gideon. Jason Gideon is just to set in his ways and extremely old-fashioned to not think that you're either possessed or taken over by the devil or some such nonsense. I'm not saying that Gideon isn't a good man just that he's extremely inflexible and set in his ways. For one thing he's against same-sex relationships, which isn't surprising since a lot of older people are and the only reason he accepted our relationship was because he knew as a Shifter I had no choice in who I chose as my mate since it's a biological imperative of our species. However, that doesn't mean he's comfortable with it."

"So basically what you're saying is he is so set in his ways that he is unwilling to change?" asked Spencer.

"Not about something like how he thinks about same-sex relationships, since it's likely something that he picked up from his parents in early childhood. When you learn something in childhood it's nearly impossible to change those particular trait as they are deeply ingrained. Gideon will never accept the fact that you were able to get pregnant due to magic and will consider it the work of the devil, as for the rest of them I believe they'll accept it, as they're much younger and more flexible than Gideon is and we do see many strange things in our jobs, but this would probably be considered the strangest."

"That was the impression I got from Gideon as well, but you just confirmed what I believed. The reason I wanted your opinion is you've known Jason Gideon for years and I've only met him half a dozen times in the last couple of years and while you can get decent impressions in those meetings you don't really get to know someone unless you spend a considerable amount of time with them like you do with the team."

"That's true," Hotch said again grateful that his mate was just as intelligent as he was and even more intelligent in some areas, but then again they all had their different strengths and weaknesses and there was nothing wrong with that. "Still, it would make our lives easier if we did tell them, but let's sleep on it for awhile and we can bring the subject up again in a few months."

"Alright," Spencer agreed. "It's not like it's such an extremely urgent situation that the decision has to be made right this minute so we might as well take our time about deciding."

By mutual agreement the two men dropped the subject for the moment, although they would eventually have to make a decision, just not right then.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	5. Chapter 5

A month later

Addison arrived promptly at 6 o'clock for dinner with his protégé and his mate who for once wasn't gone out-of-town for work.

"You're right on time," Spencer greeted him cordially. "Dinner will be ready in half an hour, so we have time to do that examination before we eat."

"Alright, where would you like to do it? Right here in the library or elsewhere?" Addison asked.

"Let's go into the living room as Aaron is waiting in there," Reid replied.

"You know you are already starting to show a little and it's only been five weeks," Addison commented as the two men walked out of the library and down a short hallway. "I've noticed over the last week or more that your stomach is growing rapidly with your pregnancy. Of course, to me it isn't that startling anymore, since I see you almost every day at work, but to other people it would definitely be."

"I wear a glamor charm whenever I go out in public," Reid told Addison who nodded.

"That's probably smart," Addison admitted. "Though those are only effective if you don't allow anybody to touch you, especially around the middle."

"Once I get further along I don't plan on going much of anywhere, except to work and then straight back home and if I do go out I will wear a glamor charm since I know I'd go absolutely stir crazy if I was stuck inside all the time."

"So have you hired that nurse I sent you the name and address for?" asked Addison.

"Yes, she's due to start after I reach my fifth month," Spencer replied.

"That's a little late, don't you think?" Addison asked with a frown.

"She assured me that she can start at any time, so that could change depending on what you find when you do those scans. I think I know that I'm carrying more than twins because I wouldn't be showing this soon if it was just two babies in my stomach, well not unless they were extremely large and right now they're about the size of peaches, so I figure that I'm carrying at least three if not four."

"You know the fact that you're so skinny means that the pregnancy is showing up sooner then if you were not so slim," Addison pointed out. "If you had the same body shape as your mate for example you wouldn't be showing quite so soon for he has broader shoulders and a bigger chest and broader hips then you do, but thanks to your rather slim frame, of course, you're beginning to show much sooner than somebody with a different body shape would."

"Yes, I had already figured that out for myself," Reid admitted. "I can't help being tall, slim and lithe as it just seems to run in my family, because it doesn't matter how much I eat I stay the same weight, although I know in a few years that my ability to eat as much as I want and not gain an ounce will vanish. I take after my mother Diana who was also rather slim and lithe, although shorter than I am and so do several of my siblings, while the rest of them take after our father."

Finally the two men reached the living room where Hotch was waiting. Hotch immediately rose from where he was sitting on the couch and strode forward to shake Addison's hand.

"Thank you for coming," Hotch told him politely but sincerely.

"No thanks necessary, as it isn't often I get a home-cooked meal," Addison answered returning the handshake.

"What you don't have a wife to cook for you?" asked Hotch.

"No, I'm afraid I've always been married to my profession," Addison answered. "I would never have been able to spend adequate time with my wife if I had married, so it's probably just as well."

Hotch nodded and said, "Believe me, I felt the same way before I met Spencer and I figured I would never get married again since I spent so much time at work."

"You were married before?" asked Addison.

"I was, but only for a very brief amount of time, which was less than five years. Her name was Haley and it was arranged by my mother and Haley's family the Brooks. I don't know why I went along with it, except to say that I was still a young man freshly graduated from college and I thought it was easier to comply and then have my mother keep pestering me about it, and trust me she would have kept calling me and bothering me until I had finally given in. However, after a few years both Haley and I decided that we just didn't suit each other and so we divorced, which was very amiable. My mother or the Brooks for that matter weren't very happy about our mutual decision, but we refused to allow our parents to try to arrange another marriage for either of us and now I'm glad that we did."

"No children?" asked Addison and Hotch shook his head negatively.

"No, no pups thank goodness, as I wouldn't want to put a young child through something as messy as a divorce no matter how amiable it was," Hotch said. "As I said my mother or Haley's weren't very happy with our decision and especially with the fact that there were no pups, but that's their problem and I rarely have any contact with mother anymore and I'm sure the same is true for Haley and her parents."

"Let's do those spells and see if we can tell how many fetuses that Spencer is carrying before we sit down to dinner," Addison suggested and Hotch and Spencer nodded in agreement.

Addison took out his wand and ran it over Spencer's still slim form, although it was also clear that he had gained quite a bit of weight in the last month, as he was also much rounder in the stomach, which was to be expected.

Addison completed his spell with a flourish and immediately, a picture formed just in front of Spencer's stomach. All three man in the room studied the picture, but finally Addison said, "It looks like there are four babies, although I can't tell the sex at this point and it will be at least another month to two before I can."

"Quadruplets?" asked Hotch looking extremely happy.

"That's what it looks like, although it's very possible of course, that there's a fifth baby in there hidden behind all the others. I'll keep scanning every week, and we should be able to tell before the pregnancy reaches the critical stage, where abortion will be impossible, which is around the beginning of the fifth month. After that if we discover more than one more baby, we can't abort one of them, but I can do a c-section when Spencer gets nearer to his due date. In fact it's my recommendation that he has a c-section anyway as trying to get that many children out the normal way is…well, let's just say that the odds aren't good that all the children will be facing the correct direction in order to be born naturally."

Hotch nodded for he had known this, as a lot of female Shifters had to have a c-section done near the end of their pregnancies or after they had already gone into labor, simply because they were carrying multiple fetuses and it was considered much safer than having them born naturally.

"If I do, do a c-section unlike for muggles who take six to eight weeks to recover Spencer will be up on his feet within a couple of days and all the surgical scars will have vanished less than a week after that if he takes the potions that I will leave with him. The advantage of the c-section is that Spencer won't lose as much blood as he would if he tried to have them naturally which is another reason he'll be up on his feet so fast and back to normal."

"And there is also much less chance that a baby's foot or hand will tear his temporary womb," Hotch said and Addison nodded.

"We could heal that damage with magic if we had too, unlike the muggles who would have to sew up the rip, but there're some things even we can't do and if the womb was too damaged... In any case, if Spencer was actually female and the uterus was severely damaged, then we would have to remove it just like the muggles have to do sometimes as magic can only do so much. In Spencer's case though, once these babies are actually born I'll do the reversal spell that will make his temporary womb slowly vanish and return his body to normal over the course of just a day."

"And there are no aftereffects?" Hotch asked.

"None, except he might be a touch on the moody side, until his body finishing getting rid of all those pregnancy hormones. Other then that since this spell won't give Spencer breasts in order to feed the babies naturally you'll have to feed your sons and daughters formula instead of breastmilk, although there's nothing wrong with that. Breastmilk is of course, preferred, but sometimes it just isn't available."

"Some females just don't produce enough breastmilk to feed their baby or babies," Spencer told everyone having been mostly silent up until now, though he had been following the conversation closely, "and so formula was originally developed to help those females that don't produce a lot of breastmilk feed their infants. Thanks to the development of various types of formula fewer infants die then used to before it was invented. Of course, many still die for other reasons, but normally not because of that."

"It's time for dinner," Hotch said checking his watch, "so we can continue this discussion while we eat."

Spencer and Addison nodded and followed Hotch towards the kitchen where they would be eating since it was much more intimate than the dining room, more cozy and less formal and there was only the three of them after all.

"I hope you don't mind but we'll be eating in the kitchen," Spencer told Addison. "There's only the three of us after all and this isn't a formal occasion or a business meeting with food, it's simply dinner with a friend."

"That's fine," Addison said, "and what I prefer actually, since I'm normally a very laidback type of person."

The three men arrived in the kitchen just in time for Hotch to turn off the timer which had just begun the buzz.

"Dinner is served," Hotch said placing quite a few dishes on the table some of which had been kept warm or cold with magic, since they had been cooked earlier.

"There was no reason…" Addison began.

"You want to say there was no reason to do such a feast," Spencer interrupted Addison who nodded in confirmation. "No, we didn't have to do this much food, but both Aaron and I love to cook, though we rarely get to, with our jobs, so trust me we enjoyed it. Usually we either eat out or prepare a simple dinner and nothing this fancy, because we are to tired, so this was a rare opportunity for us to cook together. You have to remember that what would take a normal person forever to clean up after such a meal is very easy to do when you have magic and I promise you I'll have the kitchen sparkling in less then five minutes."

"Besides, with this much food, we'll simply preserve what's left and use them for leftovers, which will likely last at least a couple of days," Hotch added.

Addison stopped protesting since it would do no good and simply enjoyed the feast that had been laid out on the table trying little bit of everything.

The three men ate silently for a few minutes but finally Hotch said, "Spencer mentioned your idea of telling the team about magic and while it's a good suggestion..."

"You're worried about breaking the law?" asked Addison.

"Well, partly," Hotch admitted, "but also about how the team will react, although I admit it would make our lives a little easier."

"As for breaking the law, magical law enforcement never has to find out and Spencer has assured me that the members of your team know how to keep their mouths shut. Besides, those particular laws aren't as strict here as they are in other places outside the States, particularly England. Sure we don't want most muggles to find out about magic, especially if they don't know how to stay quiet about it, but so long as you trust them, then it will be okay."

"Another reason you don't one most people find out about magic is because would try to kidnap a witch or wizard to try to find a way to transfer their magic to themselves or failing that get them to use their magic for what they wanted, which is a tragedy just waiting to happen," Hotch said. "I can come up with a dozen other scenarios right off the top my head and none of them ends well for a magical person like yourself."

Addison wasn't alone in shuddering at that.

"Sorry," Hotch apologized, "professional hazard, I can't help, but think what would happen if the general population found out that magic was real as modern day witch hunts would be the least of it. Still, I know all the team can be trusted to keep this behind their lips so to speak because there is no way I would trust them to watch my back out in the field, if they hadn't earned it many times over. Really we're as close as a family including JJ and Garcia both of whom have only been with us for a year."

"Yes, I've met both of them and like them a lot," Spencer admitted with a smile. "For one thing they accepted my relationship with their boss right away and didn't act all disgusted like some people do, when they discovered that we are in a relationship. I know I've only known both for a short amount of time but I'm already beginning to think of JJ as another sister as she's really the closest to my age on the team, only being about five years older than I am, and Penelope Garcia I consider kind of flamboyant and crazy aunt because she's very outrageous and outgoing. Garcia is definitely unique and if you ever meet her you'll understand what I mean."

"Garcia is very fun loving, tenderhearted and sensitive," Hotch added. "However, it's a good thing that she's only the team's technical analyst and not a field agent, because she couldn't handle some of the things we see on the job. She has enough trouble just seeing some of the things we do on her computer screens without actually being present, because as much as the whole team loves her and her outrageous and upbeat attitude she's definitely not suited for fieldwork. Also she is a Shifter just like I am except she's a lioness instead of a wolf, so she out of all of the team truly understands about the mate bond that Spencer and I share and so didn't even blink when she found out about it."

"Garcia is only the second Shifter that's a member of the team," Spencer added, "and she fits right in at least from what I've seen."

"In any case, Spencer and I will likely do what you have suggested, although not for awhile because I want to see how the two newest members work out, before we take that step," Aaron added.

"That's wise," Addison agreed.

The three of them continued to chat, as they ate the excellent supper that had been prepared and when Addison finally prepared to leave with a very full belly he said, "I'll see you at work tomorrow, and I'll do another exam next Saturday. Because this is still a relatively new procedure I want to set up an appointment for you every week from now on just to check your babies progress and make sure that they're developing like they should, although so far everything looks excellent."

"Alright," Spencer agreed calmly after Hotch glared at him, as if to tell him not to protest and that it was a reasonable precaution.

"Good, I'll see you on Saturday every week and if you have to change the date of your appointment for some reason let me know," Addison said having seen the glare, but not commenting, before throwing some Floo powder onto the roaring flames of the fireplace and stepping through after stating his address.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"So you've decided to inform the rest of the team?" asked Spencer sounding incredibly calm and considering he was seven months pregnant and due to have a c-section in three more weeks, which Hotch thought was pushing it, but he also understood that it was better if the babies remained in Spencer's belly for as long as possible, so he certainly understood where both Spencer and Addison were coming from.

"If you agree," Hotch said, "everyone except for Gideon, but luckily, he's on sabbatical so this is a good time to do it."

Spencer knew that sabbatical was the term the FBI used for one of their agents having a nervous breakdown and who were confined to a desk or to teaching, but weren't allowed out in the field and from what Hotch had told him Gideon had indeed had a breakdown after a child had been killed in the crossfire on a recent case.

"I agree, so long as we do it here, where nobody can overhear and also give them a practical demonstration away from prying eyes, which I'm sure will be necessary in order to get them to believe."

"Definitely," Hotch said, "since they aren't the types to believe in magic or the supernatural without one."

Reid bit his lip and Hotch knew that his mate was nervous about the team's reaction and so was he, although he was better at concealing it.

"It will work out," Hotch assured his mate with absolute certainty in his tone, even if he didn't really feel that way.

"Let's have them all for dinner sometime after the birth," Reid said.

"You don't want to do it before?" asked Hotch in surprise. "I mean you aren't due for another couple of months, although I realize that you will have a c-section in three weeks, so I was sure you would want to do it before our pups are born."

"Well, I suppose I could use an illusion charm until they are told and then I'll drop it and they'll see the difference. However, the problem with that idea is that Morgan likes to slap me on the back and I'm not sure I could take such gestures at the moment."

"And JJ and Garcia like to hug you, which we can't allow at least when they first arrive," Hotch realized.

"No, we can't because the spell I use is only an illusion and the minute either one of them put their arms around my waist to hug me they would immediately notice the difference, in what they can see and what they can feel underneath the glamor and they're smart cookies, so they'll know that something is wrong."

"Well, my suggestion is that we have them for dinner, and we sit down immediately before they have a chance to touch you, and once the meal has finished, you make sure that you are already sitting down in the living room ahead of anyone else."

"I could be upstairs or somewhere else in the house when they first arrived," Spencer said thoughtfully, "and I would only appear once everybody was already seated at the dinner table. If we do it that way though, won't they be suspicious, because as you pointed out they are very observant and far from stupid."

"They probably will be," Hotch admitted, "at least Morgan, but hopefully, only temporarily."

"Alright, let's do it that way as I still have the option of doing a memory charm if I have to," Spencer said frowning. "I don't like the thought of possibly having to do a memory charm on people I consider family, but I know it might be necessary. This is kind of one of those situations that you can't predict what's going to happen in advance, no matter how well you think you know someone you just never know how they're going to react to something like this."

"I don't like the idea of it either, but I also understand that it might be necessary," Hotch said.

"You know I think in this case a Confundus charm will do job as it will confuse the mind so long as it is cast before too much time has passed, so it should be effective," Spencer said.

"Yes, that might be the better option," Hotch agreed relieved, as he really didn't want to have Spencer do a memory charm on members of his team because from what he knew they could be dangerous if done incorrectly and it wasn't that he didn't trust his mate, but still things could go wrong.

"So when are you going to invite them so I know when I need to take off from St. Murphy's?"

"Sometime in the next week, since you could go into labor at anytime," Hotch said. "I would say this weekend so long as we aren't already on a case. Now that we've finally decided to go through with it in my opinion the sooner the better."

"Alright then, I usually have the weekends off from St. Murphy's as you know so I won't have to swap my shift with anyone or take the time off," Spencer said.

"The team technically has the weekends off to so long as we're not already out of town, although I know it doesn't always work that way," Hotch said. "I'll tell the team that they're invited to dinner this Saturday about six and I know they'll take me up on it Garcia especially, as she's been wanting to get a look at our little love nest as she calls it."

Spencer snorted at that and Hotch grinned for he felt the same way about that term.

"Yes, well, Penelope Garcia is a romantic at heart," Hotch said.

"I know," Reid admitted. "Personally, I think they'll be totally shocked at the size of the house since none of them have ever been here. Nobody except the really old money families own houses this size anymore and even explaining that it's been in my family for generations and that it was a wedding present to my parents probably won't stop them from asking questions."

"No, it won't and Garcia and probably JJ will want a tour," said Hotch.

"I don't mind giving them a tour actually, but it will have to be after they accept what they are told because otherwise why would I bother with giving them one when they would forget everything they saw anyway?" Reid said surprisingly calmly.

"I can't believe in just three more weeks we're going to be parents," Hotch said reverently, as he patted Spencer's tummy, which was a humongous bulge that hung over the waistline of his jeans which had already been resized several times using magic.

"Neither can I and believe me, I'm looking forward to it and not just because I'm anxious to be a father, but because I'm tired of not being able to see my feet, or being unable to bend down to pick something up off the floor."

"What no complaints about your hurting back, or your swollen ankles?" Hotch teased him. Hotch was indeed teasing because the truth was that this pregnancy had been incredibly easy on Spencer, much easier then on muggle women, especially since he was carrying five fetuses not just the four that Addison had originally found when he had done his first scan a month in. Hotch had to admit that magic was dead useful when it came to, stuff like pregnancy, because thanks to Addison, Spencer had potions he could take for his aching back and another one that would help his feet not swell so badly as it kept down the inflammation, potions that wouldn't harm the babies.

Also Spencer had been really good about following Addison's and the nurse he had hired instructions to the letter when it came to proper nutrition, and so it was now the usual thing for Spencer to eat five or six times a day, small healthy meals and several snacks, as Addison had warned both of them that Spencer needed to gain between eighty and a hundred pounds if he wanted the babies to be healthy and not have any major medical problems. Of course, the nurse they had hired that Addison had recommended helped with that, even if Spencer called her the Dragon Lady.

Hotch remembered Addison's exact words and they were, "It's going to be bad enough that they're going to be born at least 4 to 6 weeks early, the more they weigh when they are finally delivered the healthier they will be."

"Luckily, for me, there are potions to handle that, ones that won't harm the three boys and two girls I am carrying. I don't think I could handle what a normal woman goes through, especially with so many fetuses if it wasn't for those potions that I take three times a day. I mean I've read enough about pregnancy online as well as in the books I bought to know that carrying even a single baby, much less five, is not for sissies. I mean between the backaches, the late night cravings, the swollen feet, the insomnia because I can't get into a comfortable position in order to get some rest and all the other various little problems that go along with any pregnancy, even one where it is only a single baby... Well, all I can say is I don't know how women go through it even once much less multiple times, so I salute them for being able to put up with all that pregnancy entails for the sake of having children. At least I'm not going to have to feel the pain of giving birth naturally or even the pain of having contractions since we will be having a c-section done and thank Merlin and Morgana for that."

"So I'm actually surprised that Addison never put you on bed rest, as I expected him to at some point," Hotch said.

"Well, I promised him I'd take it easy and that I'd Floo call him immediately if I had any symptoms like dizziness and he would come. Besides, I have the Dragon Lady to look after me and she knows the signs just as well as Addison does and since she's living in one of the guest rooms on the second floor she can be at my side in seconds if something goes wrong."

The Dragon Lady was Cassie Corbett, the nurse that Addison had recommended back when Hotch and Spencer had decided to try this little experiment.

"You only call her that because you don't want to do what she tells you to in order to keep you and the babies healthy," Hotch chuckled.

Hotch rather liked the no nonsense older lady that was around Addison's age and he knew that Spencer did as well, even if he would probably never admit it. Hotch thought she did an excellent job of keeping Spencer on track with his pregnancy, keeping him off his feet as much as possible, making sure he didn't overdo and fixing him small healthy meals and snacks, 5 to 8 times a day. Cassie was especially helpful when he was gone for work, as he could concentrate on his job better and not worry about his mate or at least not as much since he knew that Spencer was being well looked after while he was gone. When he was home like on the weekends, Cassie kept herself out of their way as much as possible, but still did her job effectively. One thing Hotch really appreciated about the effective Cassie was that she didn't seem to care that they were two men in a relationship or the fact that one of them was pregnant as it didn't seem to faze her at all and she hadn't made even one snide comment about them being unnatural or about how it wasn't right for a man to be pregnant. When she had started she had immediately said that she would take a witch's vow that she would do everything in her power to make sure that the babies were born healthy and that she wouldn't talk about her employers business.

Spencer had protested Hotch remembered, but Cassie had told him in a no nonsense tone that this was standard practice so that she couldn't betray her employers secret because they would literally not come out of her mouth if she did try to speak of them.

Spencer hadn't argued after that, because he knew it was true and also realizing it was probably necessary, but hating it all the same. Hotch knew that his mate wanted to see the best in people, but was wise enough about the ways of the world to know that there were a lot of bad or misguided people who would think nothing about doing them harm. Really gossiping wasn't as innocent as it seemed, because it could fall into the wrong ears and then caused no end of trouble, because someone couldn't keep their mouth shut.

Hotch remembered being quite impressed with Cassie's no nonsense attitude and her handling of his mate. He had enjoyed watching Spencer's reaction immensely when Cassie had told him straight out that either she took that vow or she was leaving and they could find another nurse.

"You know I weighed on the scale in our bathroom the other day and do you know I've gained 85 pounds?" Spencer said changing the subject.

"That's good, because Addison did say you needed to gain anywhere from 80 to 100 pounds before these babies were born," Hotch said pleased.

"Yes, well, I suppose I have the Dragon Lady to thank for that," Spencer admitted grudgingly. "She has made sure that I've been eating so many times a day and that I've gotten proper nutrition. I mean if she hadn't bullied me there is no way I would have gained so much weight since I usually don't eat more than two meals a day and even with me being pregnant I still didn't see myself eating more then four times a day if that much."

"You would've been hungry more often than that," Hotch predicted, "but I doubt very much that whatever you fixed for yourself would have been very healthy. I know you have been craving odd foods ever since you got pregnant, but then women do so why should it be any different for you? My point however, is that Cassie has managed to satisfy your cravings and still fix you healthy and filling meals so that you aren't hungry in between."

"You know one of the reasons I can't wait to have these baby is I'm tired of peeing what seems like every five minutes and unfortunately, there is no potion that will ease the pressure on my bladder, and only our children's births will solve that particular problem."

"Yes, you have been peeing a lot," Hotch chuckled and Spencer glared at him not appreciating his mate's amusement at his situation. "You might be glaring at me now, but I bet you that you will see the funny side of this someday."

Spencer's gaze softened and he admitted, "Yes, I likely will—someday, just not today."

Hotch nodded and pulled his mate's very large form into his arms and held him close. "I'm sorry I haven't been here more for all these months of pregnancy," Hotch told his mate softly, kissing him on the forehead. "Unfortunately, this is such an unusual situation that I can't tell Strauss that I need time off, because my male partner is pregnant. If I did tell her that she would send me to the loony bin I guarantee you."

Spencer actually chuckled at that, because he had actually met Erin Strauss only once and he had hated her on sight as he had immediately pegged her as a small-minded, vindictive, mean-spirited, vengeful woman who hated his mate for no reason that he could see.

"So have you decided what you're going to tell Strauss about the fact that you have children now or at least you will in a matter of weeks?"

Hotch smirked and said, "I thought I'd let you cast that spell we talked about on her."

"Oh, you mean the ones that will make her ignore their existence completely? The one where even when she sees them she won't recognize them as ours and even if we introduce them as our children her mind will come up with a logical explanation for their existence and as soon as they are out of her sight she'll forget about them entirely? Is that the charms you were talking about?" Spencer asked.

"Precisely," Hotch confirmed with a smirk. "I'm glad you told me about those particular charms, because I think they're the perfect spells to be cast on Erin Strauss as this way even if she realizes that they are our pups biologically she'll forget about them as soon as they're not in sight and therefore, she can't start an investigation as to how we could have children. Personally, I think if anybody deserves to be put under a spell it is her for being such a nasty small-minded, petty woman and I refuse to feel guilty in her case that it is necessary."

"Well, if she did we could just tell her that they are your nieces and nephews who just lost their parents and you are taking them in," Spencer suggested.

"Bad idea because then she would just start checking into my siblings backgrounds to find out which one died, and when she found out that all were healthy they'd then be no logical explanation as to where our pups came from so in this case the charm is the best option."

"Well, okay, but just so you know technically casting magic on the muggle, except for memory charms are illegal, which is one of the reasons I've been so reluctant to do something like cast magic on the people close to you. Sure, it's okay, to cast something like that Confundus charm because it isn't permanent and it wears off in just an hour or two, depending on how much power is put into the spell, but the type of thing we were talking about is permanent until it is removed, or a memory charm if it is required, but something like this..."

"It isn't illegal is it?" asked Hotch suddenly wondering why his mate seemed so reluctant.

"No, it's not illegal, like some spells are, but there are only certain kinds of situations it can be used in," Spencer explained.

"I would think protecting our pups not to mention the secret of the magical world, would be the perfect situation to use this spell. You don't know Erin Strauss like I do, but I guarantee you that she is an extremely vindictive woman and if she discovered an anomaly like how we have pups that share both our genes, especially if one of them comes out looking like the perfect combination of both of us, believe me, she would investigate and that would of stir up interest in our children, which you know we don't need. Believe me, when I say that that kind of investigation can take on a life of its own and soon a ton of people are involved and that kind of situation could definitely generate unhealthy interest, which neither one of us want," Hotch said. "At the least we would have to move somewhere else just to get away from all the media attention that kind of case would generate and probably change our appearances since most people in the States would have heard about it by then."

"Alright then," Spencer finally agreed, "you're right, this is a kind of situation that the spell I told you about is perfect for. I really don't want to have to move and it's not because we don't have the money to do so, but I like living here as this house holds many happy memories of my parents before they died. I also don't want you to have to give up a job that you love, not to mention all your friends like the team, so I'll do it after the children are born, alright. I'll Apparate directly into her office under a disillusionment charm so that I don't set off any alarms or be seen by the camera and do the spell."

"It'll be better if you go to her house and do the spell there," Hotch said. "I'll give you the address, but you'll have to watch the house for awhile as she's married and has four children, a son and three daughters. You'll have to go while the children are in school and the husband at work."

"Don't worry I'll work it out and cast the Confundus charm to confuse the other people in the house if I need to. If I do that by the time it wears off I'll be long gone and they'll just think that they were daydreaming. Your idea is much better than mine, because there is not going to be any cameras to see what I do, not in a private home."

"Make sure you're careful and that you check the whole house to make sure that there are no surprises."

"I'll make sure that I cast the Homenum Revelio spell and it will show me anything alive in the house. Think of it like infrared it will show me the glow of a persons body heat within a certain proximity. Of course, I'll have to do it once I'm inside the house as the range is limited."

"So you'd have to do it before you enter any room then," Hotch said and Spencer nodded.

"Unfortunately true," Spencer admitted. "However, I don't think I'll need to check every room because I should be able to come and go in less then five minutes. I can use the disillusionment charm while I'm looking for my target and I should be able to cast my spell without having to reveal my presence to anyone in the house. So I've been meaning to ask why does Strauss hate you so much. I know that she does, but why?"

"Oh, no reason really other then she's a power-hungry small-minded vindictive woman," Hotch snorted. "She thought that the team's actions on one case recently were excessive, as several people were killed that shouldn't have been. However, she's always been a bureaucrat and never been out in the field, so she doesn't know how situation can change in the blink of an eye. In my case, I believe she thinks I'm after her position and I wouldn't take her job even if you paid me triple what I make now, as I'm not the type to sit behind a desk as I would go absolutely crazy if I did. It's bad enough that I have all the paperwork to do before and after cases, but at least I get some fieldwork in between."

"So...basically she just thinks you're after her job and resent the team in general and you in particular, because you don't always follow the manual that was written for field agents." Spencer summarized.

"Basically, yeah, although that's not the whole problem. Of course, we both know that out in the field things can change very rapidly and following the manual, well, is not always prudent or practical. Of course, trying to get Strauss to see that the rule book doesn't cover every situation one that can rapidly spiral out-of-control is like trying to get a particularly vicious dog to see that biting someone is wrong," Hotch said with a smirk.

Spencer snickered at that. "You sure do have a way with words. I'm not saying they aren't accurate, but they sure are colorful. I mean I've only met her once and I hated her on sight, but that was mostly because I could see that she hated your guts."

"You know she's also not very happy that I'm in a relationship with you, basically because she's against same-sex relationships, but also because she hates to see me so happy all the time. I don't know for sure if she's against our relationship because she doesn't believe in the Shifter mating gene, or just because she hates me, or simply because she wants to see me as unhappy as possible as it's easier to get under my skin when I am. I've always loved the fieldwork part of my job, but filling out the paperwork afterwards is boring and tedious, even if I know it needs to be done, but now doing the paperwork doesn't bother me half as much as it used to, simply because I'm thinking of coming home at the end of my shift to you. I no longer stay late in the office to do the paperwork now that I have a life of my own outside my job, which is another reason for Strauss to be so unhappy with me, because I think she used to like the fact that I stayed for hours even after the shift had officially ended filling out form after form. I still stay late occasionally, but only if I know that you're going to be working at St. Murphy's, as I don't see any point of coming home to an empty house, but I certainly don't do it nearly as often as I did before the two of us met."

"Well, after all you've told me about this woman I'm no longer against casting this spell on her, but you know it might be discovered at some point, because they're are likely other magical folks in the FBI. Unlike in England where most witches and wizards try to keep the magical world separate from the muggles one, we, here in America believe in integrating ourselves into it by dressing and acting appropriately so that muggles or Shifters never knows that we are a little different from them."

"In other words, you magical folks try to blend in," Hotch said.

"More or less," Spencer admitted. "In England though, I hear they have a real problem with that, especially from some of the more conservative families, pureblood ones who don't believe that muggles have anything to offer them and therefore, don't try to blend in."

"What's the chance that this spell will be detected?" asked Hotch worriedly.

"Pretty low actually," Spencer admitted, "so long as your boss acts normally, you know nothing out of the ordinary about her behavior, then the spell could go undetected for years, as it's a very subtle kind of spell that is nearly impossible to detect. The only way I can see it being detected is if somebody actually does a revealing spell on her and the likelihood of that happening are almost nil, as most magical folks require a wand in order to do magic."

"You don't," Hotch pointed out.

"Yes, well, the Potters in particular have always been good at wandless magic and while other magical folks can do the same thing, it all depends on the talent of the witch or wizard in question. Some of them have absolutely no talent for wandless magic while others can only do simple spells or charms without a wand. I'm sure you'll find that a lot of magical folks are extremely lazy, and it takes quite a bit of work and determination to do wandless magic, as it takes more concentration then if you use a wand. A wand is meant to focus the magic in your body and channel it out an object that has a magical core, in this case a wand. Most magical folks just find it easier, to use a wand instead of working on their wandless magic. However, there're certain advantages to not having to use a wand in order to perform magic, because every wand has a detectable magical signature that is placed on it before it is sold, kind of like the registration for a firearm. Magic isn't detected if it's done in a magical area or at least not paid attention to, but if you use it in a muggle area it is, and this is especially true for the children who aren't allowed to do magic doing their summer holidays until they graduate. With wandless magic however, you can't tell who is casting it because there's no charm on it to make it detectable like on a wand."

"So I'm assuming that any child gets a warning if they perform any type of magic in the summer," Hotch said.

"They do, but only once they get a wand, as before that it's considered accidental magic," Spencer said.

"So how is magic discovered? I mean I understand about the registration on your wand that helps your government detect magic, but there has to be something else to it."

"They're magical sensors set up in major muggle areas," Spencer explained and went on to describe in detail how magic was detected. "In the case of children, there's also an underage tracking charm placed on their wand, although it is removed once they come of age at 17."

"So this tracking charm allows the government to tell who performed a spell," Hotch summarized and Spencer nodded.

"More or less, the system is a little bit more complicated than that, but that's the essence of it," Spencer said.

"How is it more complicated?" Hotch asked.

"Well, it's just that the sensors will only detect magic if it's done in a muggle area, so it detects when a muggle-born does magic," Spencer explained. "Now while me and you live in a muggle area, this house is well known as having witches and wizards living here, so if one of my underage siblings was to do magic, it would be attributed to me or another grownup doing it and not to one of them. However, as you know I follow the rules about no magic during the summer and I make sure to take my siblings wands and put them in a magically locked drawer in my office, though come to think of it I didn't have to do that to Leah and Liya this past summer, since they were both 17, though it's hard to believe that they graduate in just a month or so."

"If these babies had to be born early in three weeks then it happened it good time because our family will be home only a week or so after their births," Hotch said.

"Yes, I have to admit we picked a good time to try this little experiment, just a couple of months after my brothers and sisters went back to school."

"I remember, how astonished they were at how big you had become when they were home for Christmas," Hotch chuckled.

"Yes, by that time we knew the sexes," Spencer mused, "although we didn't know about the fifth baby until after they had gone back to school."

"Yes, I remember vividly how happy they all were to learn that they were getting two nephews and two nieces," Hotch recalled. "I know you are going to have a lot of help to take care of them, at least in the summer."

"Oh, Leah and Liya have already guaranteed me that they'll be over a lot to help out with their nieces and nephews even when they get a place of their own. Even with that assurance I've already told them I that I plan on hire a couple of fulltime nannies since there will be so many of them."

"Have you had any luck in finding nannies yet?" asked Hotch who knew that Spencer had been doing interviews for the last month to try to find a couple of appropriate nannies, ones who weren't against their relationship, who truly loved children and who wouldn't come on to Spencer or him. Of course, being able to blend into the muggle world was a must as well for obvious reasons.

Spencer groaned as he thought the situation of finding a nanny. He had genuinely believed that finding one or two people to look at his and Aaron's children would be relatively easy to accomplish and he now knew that he had been dead wrong about that and not a little naïve to believe that he would be able to find someone to fill the position quickly.

"Less than none," Spencer said in frustration. "None of the ones I've interviewed meet all the qualifications that we both talked about and agreed were things we wanted for anybody we hired who was going to look after our children while we work. Personally, I don't think we're being unreasonable in what we ask of the people that either one or both of us have interviewed. The guidelines we set down are perfectly reasonable and yet the ones who have answered our ad in the magical Virginia Times and Magical Washington Post, are unqualified in at least one area, if not more. I thought we made it perfectly clear in our advertisement, about what we expected of any applicants and so far at least all the ones I've interviewed are silly girls or young women who are either younger than I am or not much older who make it clear, that all they want is a soft easy living and to marry me so they'll be able to live in the lap of luxury and not have to find jobs. I've also had a few, that don't even like children very much and just want the job, because of the wage that we agreed on for whoever we hire."

"Those people must've really been stupid if they really thought that you would hire one of them to look after our pups," Hotch snorted.

"No, they just don't know me at all," Spencer said. "They figured that they could act appropriately during the interview and that would be the end of it, but if I actually hired them and they started acting outside of the guidelines the two of us spent hours discussing and deciding on they'd find their asses on the sidewalk so fast that their heads would spin and probably without their wages."

"As for me I've had a few that made it clear that they didn't approve of two men in a relationship or that we were having pups together," Hotch said, "and when they did I showed them the door."

"Yes, I've had a few of those to," Spencer admitted, "and when that happens I also show them the door. The ones that come onto me, even after I told them I was taken and that the two of us were together in a serious and permanent relationship and that I was having our children. I even tried to explain to one of them that you were a Shifter, one of the two species that has a True Mate and that we shared a bond between us that meant I would not be cheating on you behind your back. Once I was done with my explanation the the lady in question looked at me as if I had three heads, and so I showed her the door. I actually watched from the window as she trudged down the sidewalk and she looked so surprised, dejected and disappointed at the same time, that I nearly laughed and cried at the same time. I know she actually believed that I would take her in and perhaps, have a relationship with her, and get her pregnant and that I would abandon you and our children."

"Well, I suppose it doesn't help that I'm not here for most of the interviews, because I'm working," Hotch mused. "I'm sure at least most applicants have believed, that you weren't really trying to hire a nanny, but were interviewing them for the position of your mistress. That's happened a lot in the muggle world you know, as it has been quite a few scandals over the years about how some husband and father gets some pretty nanny or maid pregnant."

"Yes, that is exactly what they wanted," Spencer admitted.

"You used Legilimency on them?" asked Hotch, though it wasn't really a question, as he knew his mate to well and knew that he would do almost anything to protect his family. He had no doubts about his mate's loyalty to him, none at all, so he wasn't jealous. Besides, he could certainly understand his mate's frustration at the situation, because he felt the same for the few people he had interviewed.

"Yes, I did," Spencer admitted not looking the least ashamed of himself, as he would do anything he could to protect his family and Hotch knew this since he would do the same, even bending the laws if it was necessary. "You know I'll do anything to protect my family and while I know you are capable of protecting yourself as am I, that's not true of our children that will be born in a few short weeks, so yes, I did Legilimency on them, just in case I couldn't tell from their words, tone of voice or body language what their true intentions were as some people can be extremely subtle about their intent."

"Yes, they can," Hotch agreed pulling his mate as close to him, not caring about his protruding belly, just wanting to hold the man he adored as close as possible.

"You know if we were to marry in a magically binding ceremony, that would stop at lot of the women from coming onto us, because that kind of magic leaves a mark that is very visible to most of us."

"You know I've been thinking about proposing," Hotch mused, "for the last few months anyway."

"Then why haven't you as I guarantee you I wouldn't have said no," Spencer said.

"Every time I seriously consider it something seems to come up that distracts me," Hotch admitted. "The team will catch a case preventing me from coming home and doing just that, or something else happens. I did buy ring and I was planning on proposing, at some point when we had a moment to breathe."

"Well, why don't you go ahead and do it then?" Spencer suggested, "we can get married in a magical ceremony after the children are born."

"Alright then," Hotch said sitting up from where he was laying on the bed and reaching into his coat pocket which was laying on a chair close by. A few seconds later Hotch withdrew a ring box and presented it to Spencer who had also sat up looking excited, enthusiastic and eager. Spencer opened the box too find a golden ring with emeralds and diamonds. It was beautiful and the emeralds and diamonds were encrusted into the gold, going all the way around the band. In other words, there was one small diamond then one small emerald, that we're no more then chips really and probably not more than half a carat or so apiece, with barely any space in between. Spencer thought it was the most beautiful ring he had ever seen and he wasn't usually one to wear much jewelry except for his head of house signet, because he was head of the family. All his siblings had heir rings and his children once they were born would get them to.

Hotch took both of his mate's hands with their elegant palms and long slender fingers in both of his placing the ring box securely on top. "Will you, Spencer Reid, agree to marry me? Be my mate, my support, my constant companion, my best friend, the love in this life as well as any other if there is such a thing as reincarnation? I swear that I will always love you, be there when you need me, nurse you when you are sick and that I will never leave you, as it would totally and utterly destroy me if I was stupid enough to do so. Over the last three years you have become my life, my happiness, my love, my sole reason for existing, as I would be nothing without you beside me. I swear to always treat your brothers and sisters as if they were my own and to always be there if they need me. Your family will be my family and I will help them in anyway I am able. I will love and support them and you with anything that you or they choose to do with your lives. I also swear to love and protect whatever pups that are born, because of our love and make sure they grow up happy and healthy. I, Aaron Hotchner do swear this on my life, so do you Spencer Reid accept my troth?"

Spencer listened to Aaron's speak with tears of happiness in his eyes, but he knew he needed to reply immediately in order for the magic that all Shifters possessed to take effect. Spencer had done his own research and he knew that Aaron's little speech was part of a ritual when it came to asking your True Mate to marry you and it had a kind of magic all its own, although it was unlike the magic that he or any other witch or wizard possessed. It was more of a permanent commitment, one that you couldn't back out of once you had accepted a Shifter's vow as there was no divorce between True Mates. The only way that True Mates ever separated, was by the death of one of them and more often than not the other followed within a year. Reid knew that he had to make his own oath, in order for the magic of the ritual to be binding and unbreakable or at least he had to say yes. Once the ritual was complete nobody could ever separate them as it would have disastrous consequences for that person or persons that tried and it didn't matter that Aaron was a Shifter and he was a wizard for this oath was ancient magic that went back for centuries and perhaps, even further than that. Where this ritual had originally come from was unknown just like where the Shifters as a race had come from had been lost over the centuries. For all anyone knew Shifters could be an offshoot of Animagus wizards, which was a magical person that could turn into some kind animal, though it was a difficult piece of magic to master and you had to be good in transfiguration to accomplish it. However, if that was the case the information had been lost likely centuries ago, either accidentally or deliberately or because of some kind of natural disaster.

"I, Spencer Reid, do accept your troth, Aaron Hotchner and agree to be your mate, your lover, your confidante, your best friend, now and forever. I will love you forever, support you when you need it, nurse you back to health when you are sick, be your constant, loyal companion, never accepting the romantic attentions of another. I swear to always listen to your concerns and try to help you with any problem you might have and to love whatever children we have together, to protect them, and help them grow up to be good honest and hard-working adults. Your siblings, their spouses and their children those already born and those yet to be are now my family as well and I swear to always be there to help them when they need it, to love them, support them and treat them no differently from how I treat my own siblings. This I swear, so do you Aaron Hotchner accept my vow?"

"I do accept your troth, Spencer Reid and all that it entails," Hotch intoned solemnly, although with tears of happiness, love and relief in the corners of his dark brown eyes. "We shall never be parted, save by the death of one of us, this I swear on everything I hold dear in this world."

With those last words, there was a bright flash bang of dark gray light that came from the ribbons of energy that had been wrapping around their clasped hands, as they had been speaking and the ribbons of energy vanished into their skin, binding the two of them even more tightly together then they had been previously. The ring that had also been placed on top of their clasped hands was now on Spencer's third finger of his right hand and was considered a wedding band now as they were considered not just lovers or partners, but married in every sense of the word. Spencer believed that that's what the ritual was all about and why it had been originally created many centuries ago, as it only worked for Shifters who had found their True Mates because otherwise the words, no matter how they were intoned or what was said had no effect. Shifters were taught this ritual as young children and that the ceremony was sacred and would never even consider doing it unless they truly had discovered the one person they were meant to be with. The words that were said didn't matter so much, except for the first and last line about accepting a Shifter's troth or vow, which basically meant marriage. Really those two lines were the most important in the whole ritual for the rest of what was said was given in the Shifters own words and came straight from the heart.

"Well, that's it. We shall never be parted now, we are now officially and legally wed at least in the Shifter community and not just mated," Hotch said his tone awed. "When you agreed to have sex with me for the first time that completed the mating bond, but it was still possible for somebody to break that bond and separate us, even if that's an extremely difficult thing to do and it hasn't happened in centuries. Now that you have accepted my troth and all that entails, even making your own vow in return, well, let's just say that nothing will be able to break the bond that is between us now and anybody who tries will face the consequences of their actions as the gods or the fates or whatever you call it tend to heartily disapprove if anybody who tries to break such sacred vows. Anybody who tries to interfere in such a sacred bond, well, let's just say the consequences will be rather severe."

"I know I read up on Shifters from the books you recommended that were written by Shifters themselves and all of them went into great detail, which is how I knew to make a vow of my own. And Aaron, just so you know, I meant every single word. There's nothing on this Earth that would ever make me cheat on you or leave you for any reason."

"What if one of our pups or one of your siblings are kidnapped?" asked Hotch.

"Well, my siblings can protect themselves," Spencer said, "as most of them have taken martial arts of one discipline or another, ever since we moved here, as they requested that they be allowed to learn since they couldn't do magic outside of school to protect themselves and I must say all of them are quite good. They practice constantly, which also has the added advantage of keeping them in shape. As for our children, if that were to happen for some reason, although this house is protected from any muggles with ill intentions from entering, and it also has Anti-Apparition, and Anti-Portkey wards. Even the Floo is protected as it detects the intent of anybody attempting to come in that way, but if the impossible happened and someone did manage to kidnap one of them, like when they were out of the house, I would think that we would discuss options together and do our best to get them back safely."

"So we're living in a place that is the equivalent of Fort Knox," Hotch said amusement in his tone, though he was extremely happy as well that the house was so well protected.

"More or less," Spencer agreed. "I won't say it's impossible for somebody who means harm to one of the family to get in here, as despite all the precautions that have been taken, there is always going to be something that I or my parents missed in the security measures, but in my opinion it's damn near impenetrable."

"So it was your parents that put most of the security in place then," Hotch said and Spencer nodded.

"Yes, as because as you know we spent several weeks here every summer, sometimes a month," Spencer said, "and mom and dad wanted their children to be protected just in case trouble came calling. Nothing ever happened, but my mother in particular believed in protecting her children as there are a lot of nasty people in the world both muggle and wizarding. However, I added that Anti-Portkey ward and in fact I'm the only one allowed to create a Portkeys to this house, one that actually works anyway. Anybody else who tries to create one to this particular location, well it will dump them outside the wards and since they are set up at the edges of the property..."

"And anybody who tries to get in that way will be dumped there," Hotch said.

"Yep!" Spencer said with an evil smirk. "And since there are woods on the back edge of the property that's where any invaders will be redirected if they do try to Portkey or Apparate in here. Since there are a lot of wild animals in the forest, and they can't use magic to Apparate or Portkey out, they'll be lucky to survive, unless they are rescued in a reasonable amount of time."

"Man you are vicious, aren't you," Hotch said chuckling appreciatively, the wolf in his chest howling in satisfaction that nobody would be able to get into the house to harm any of his family.

"You know I'm usually perfectly nice and agreeable, but when it comes to protecting those I love I take my duties very seriously. Nobody will be able to get into this house if they mean any harm, even if they come to the door they won't be able to step inside, unless the wards are lowered, since there are wards on the house to. My parents, grandparents and great-grandparents all felt the same way and would do almost anything to protect the people they loved, so you might say it's a family trait. Besides, you and I both know that it pays to be a little paranoid."

"That it does," Hotch agreed. "Those who are not and are totally innocent often get taken advantage of."

"Exactly," Reid agreed with the smirk. "By the way, I absolutely love the ring, although I think it's far too much."

"It's been in my family for generations given to me by my great-grandmother, on my father's side of the family before she passed away some years ago. I was 12, when she entrusted it to my care and it was as if she sensed that she didn't have much time left before she died. She told me that I was responsible enough to take care of this ring and that when I found my True Mate I was to give it to him or her. I still remember my mother screeching in protest when my grandmother told me that, but she really didn't have a right to say anything since she knows very well that a Shifter's mate is not determined by what sex they think they prefer. You know, come to think of it that might be why my mother arranged that marriage for me with Haley Brooks. She was probably trying to force me into never looking for my True Mate, just in case they were the same sex I was."

"Well, from what you told me that didn't work out very well, as you were both pretty miserable," Spencer chuckled Hotch joining him.

"Yeah, we were," Hotch admitted. "Oh, not by in the very beginning like for the first year or two we were happy enough, but after that... In any case, Grandmother Eileen died, just after I turned 14, but she was close to 140 when she did. It's too bad you can never meet her, because she really was a swinging old lady and didn't really approve of my mother, mostly because of the way she treated all her pups, but she knew she didn't really have a right to interfere."

"So your parents? Were they True Mates or did they just marry because they thought they were in love?"

"No, they definitely weren't True Mates because my mother never could have treated her pups so cruelly or callously if my father had been her one and only," Hotch explained. "If my mother had truly loved my father and if she had been the one that was meant for him and him for her she would have treated any pups they had with love and caring, but instead she treated us with cruelty, indifference, resentment and even hate, from the time I was very small. As I grew up and each of my siblings was born it became obvious that she didn't really love us, like a real parent should."

"So your mother didn't have so many pups because she wanted them..." Spencer began trying to understand how a mother could treat her children or pups so cruelly

"No, she had so many because you know that both my parents were Shifters and that there was over 90% chance that she would have multiples every time and that's exactly what happened, with me being the sole exception. I am the only single child in the family and the rest of my siblings are either twins or triplets and there's even one set of fraternal quadruplets. My father absolutely refused to let my mother have her tubes tied or to get a vasectomy until she nearly died with the birth of her last set of triplets."

"So you never did tell me how many siblings have," said Spencer.

"You never asked and if you had I would have told you, because it isn't like it's a state secret. My mother was pregnant seven times and the last couple of times were because she forgot to take her pills that prevent pregnancy or perhaps, they just stopped being effective since that happens a lot of times with Shifter couples, especially when both are able to change shape. Pills that prevent pregnancy aren't always effective on our kind and a lot of times a female Shifter can still end up pregnant despite all precautions. The only truly effective prevention for a woman is to have her tubes ties, which is why she wanted to have it done in the first place or for the father to have a vasectomy so she wouldn't keep getting pregnant again pills or no pills. As for how many siblings I have I have nearly 20."

"That many?" asked Spencer blinking in astonishment. "I didn't think anybody except some of the really wealthy families have that many children anymore."

"Well, my mother definitely didn't want that many pups, but as you know Shifters tend to be extremely fertile for the most part and sometimes even something like pills that are designed to prevent that kind of thing don't always work as there is something about our biology that can sometimes go around something like that and those pills are not always a hundred percent effective anyway. As I said I was the only single birth and also the oldest, but a couple of years after I was born, my mother had triplets, and then three years after that she had twins. Another two years later she'd had quadruplets, she got pregnant with triplets again while she was still nursing the quads as that has been known to happen sometimes even in normal women. After that she was bound and determined not to have anymore pups and she begged my father to let her have her tubes tied, so that she wouldn't get pregnant again, but my father refused telling her that having as many pups as possible was a woman's sacred duty and so four years after the twins were born, my mother again got pregnant with another set of twins and then while she was still nursing she got pregnant for the final time and eight months later my three final siblings were born."

"Which is the pregnancy that nearly killed her," Spencer's said and Hotch nodded.

"I think that's one of the reasons she's so bitter, as she got worse after that last pregnancy than she was before that, although she was never exactly very nice. Perhaps, if my father had been more understanding about the pain of childbirth and how he was wearing his wife's body out with all these birth, especially the ones so close together, she might not be quite as bitter now."

"So I assume that at least the last set of triplets is still at home?" asked Spencer.

"Yes, they are but they won't be for much longer for they're due to start college, next year as they're 17. We email each other frequently and also send a lot of text messages. They are anxious to get away from our mother by going to college and I can't really blame them for that at all, considering the kind of person my mother is. I would've been willing to take them in once I started working, but my mother would never hear of it and she would try to fight me till her last breath so I gave up the idea. Me and mother got into an extremely loud, furious argument over that very issue and I swore I would take her to court over my brothers and sister that were still at home, but unfortunately, my mother has a lot of clout, and knows judges and other important people and I didn't at that time, since I was just starting, my life away from home. The ironic thing is that now I have the connections to likely succeed in getting them out of that house and away from my mother, but my last set of triplet brothers is nearly grown up now so there's really no point."

"But you kept in contact with all of them to make sure that your mother's influence didn't go to far," Spencer pointed out, "and I'm sure you other siblings did the same. After all it's easy to keep in contact with family members nowadays thanks to cellphones and emails."

"Yes, that's true and I've made sure I kept in contact with all my siblings that were still at home when I left for college and even now those still living with my mother and those out on their own know they can depend on me, if they need help."

"Then that's really all you can do since you didn't have the proper political clout or the money to fight it in court to get your siblings to come live with you since you were just starting out at that time. You know if there's one thing I don't blame your mother for was that she wanted to get her tubes tied, because she had 18 children in 13 years and that's a lot. If they had been a little further apart, like every three years instead of having them right on top of each other in a couple of instances, or if she hadn't gotten pregnant those last couple of times she might not be the same bitter, mean-spirited woman."

"Well, she did change a lot after she got pregnant for that fifth time," Hotch remembered. "I believe that she never wanted so many pups as she got. I think just the proverbial heir and a spare would have been enough for her instead of the horde that she had and also raised with very little help from, dad, since he always seemed to be working. You know I wonder now if dad was really working all those times he was gone as it's possible that he could have had a mistress on the side and in fact I wouldn't be in the least surprised if that was the case or if I have some half siblings out there. He and my mother weren't True Mates, so it's very possible and in fact I just remembered that their marriage was arranged just like mine was to Haley. However, back when they got married, divorce, well, you just didn't do that, especially not in the high society that they come from."

"So they stayed married because divorce just wasn't done back then no matter how miserable that made them and your mother kept popping out children for thirteen years."

"Yes, I'm pretty sure that she took those pregnancy pills on the sly as I can't see my father allowing it considering the way he felt about a woman's sacred duty," Hotch said.

"So what happened to your father?" asked Spencer. "I know he's dead, but you didn't tell me how he died."

"He had a heart attack in his early 50s and my youngest brothers were still quite young at that time," Hotch said.

"Is it possible that your mother poisoned him or something similar? You know to get rid of an abusive spouse?"

Hotch blinked, because that had never occurred to him and he considered it quite seriously and decided that yes, considering his mother's personality that it was well possible that was exactly what had happened.

"You know I never thought about that, but it is well possible that she poisoned him with something like foxglove since it can cause somebody to have a heart attack if given a strong enough dose and which is undetectable unless you're looking for it," Hotch said.

"It could've been something like arsenic, although that makes your breath smell like almonds, but you know that's not really strange a lot of people like to eat almonds."

"That's very possible and by the way since we kind of went off on a tangent my family is very wealthy not as much is yours, but certainly wealthy enough to live in a very nice house as each of my brothers and sisters had their own rooms, just like all your siblings do when they are home. The house I grew up in certainly isn't as big as this one, but it still had over 20 bedrooms, although they weren't as big as the ones in this house, and we didn't have as many bathrooms either."

"Yes, well, you have to remember that the Potters are originally pureblooded and that they grew up in luxury. Is it really so surprising that they wanted to continue living just as they had been when they were children? I wouldn't be surprised to discover if this house was redesigned using magic so that a lot of the rooms had its own bathroom and sitting area. A lot things can be done with magic and I bet if we were to check the dimensions of the house we would find there is more space on the inside then there should be. Of course, it's very possible that they just rearranged the space using magic to where it was more effectively utilized. Several generations of several branches of the family have lived in this house at one time or another and I don't intend on ever giving it away until I'm dead and even then it will go to one of my children. If I have my way this house will not sit here, abandoned for years before one of the Potters or Reids finally uses it and I believe that's why my grandparents gave it to my parents as a wedding present as they wanted to see it filled with life, not sitting here all abandoned, slowly decaying because people had forgotten it existed. I have loved this house since I was a small child as I think it has a lot a potential and a lot of personality and I really don't want to see it be torn down because it becomes a hazard."

"Well, I never knew you felt that way," Hotch said with a little smile on his lips, as he listened to his mate's passionate speech.

"Well, now you do, but every word I said was true as I have always loved this house and I really don't want to see it torn down," Spencer said.

"I don't think you need to worry about that too much as you and your siblings have done a great job keeping up," Hotch said

"Thank you," Spencer said knowing that Aaron was being very sincere.

"We should probably get some sleep as you in particular need as much rest as you can get since those babies will be quite a bit of work once they are born," Hotch suggested.

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Spencer admitted. "I only hope that my next interview with an applicant for nanny is better suited for the job, because I don't think I could put up with anymore of the applicants coming onto me."

"Well, the ritual we just went through should prevent most of them from doing that since most people can sense it and Shifters can see bonds," Hotch said. "The ritual which we went through is considered marriage in the Shifter community, but yes, I'm willing to get married the magical way as well after the babies are born and that should discourage all, but the most determined from trying to get into either of our pants."

"Yes, it should because if we go through the magical bonding ceremony, that means that we've decided never to get divorced. If we do the ceremony I'm thinking about, divorce is not an option, which is why it's only rarely used anymore, as most people aren't willing to go through this particular ceremony, because as I said divorce is not an option and a lot of people don't really know the meaning of the word everlasting love anymore and so want to get divorced somewhere down the road because they feel backed into a corner or if they fall out of love."

"That sounds perfect," Hotch approved. "It sounds very similar to the Shifter ritual that has been passed down for centuries in each family."

"I'll show you the ceremony in a book that's in the library sometime in the near future," Spencer promised, "but right now we need to get some sleep."

"Alright," Hotch agreed, "I'll hold you to that."

"I would expect nothing less," Spencer told him kissing Aaron on the lips tenderly before laying down with his head on his mate's shoulder and closing his eyes, a few seconds later Hotch doing the same.

It didn't take long at all for both men and to be sleeping contentedly cuddling against each other.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	6. Chapter 6

"Wow! Nice place!" JJ commented looking around as she and the rest of the team entered the front door of Spencer's and Aaron's home.

"Spencer will appreciate that you think so," Hotch said with a little smile. "This house has been in his family for generations. I'll let him tell you the history of how it was acquired later."

"Why didn't he just get rid of it and get a smaller place I would think someplace this size would be too expensive to maintain," Garcia commented looking around.

"Money isn't a problem, as you know," Hotch said. "Besides, this house has a lot of happy memories of his parents before they died, and if you think Spencer was going to give that up unless he had to... Besides, Spencer also wanted to bring his brothers and sisters somewhere they were familiar with, after their parents deaths, but also somewhere that they didn't have their parents things everywhere they looked."

"Where is he anyway?" asked Morgan as he looked around the large living room that was decorated very nicely, but it certainly didn't scream wealthy.

"He's around," Hotch said briefly knowing that Spencer was in the library and would stay there until dinner was ready. "Why don't you sit down? Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, as you are all a little early."

"It sure does smell good," Garcia commented as she sniffed the air appreciatively. "I had no idea you could cook, bossman."

"Spencer and I enjoy cooking together when we can," Hotch answered with a little smile. "Spencer is an excellent cook and he's been teaching me some of his recipes, ones that belonged to his mother and grandmother."

"So do you think we can have a tour?" asked JJ as she looked around the living room.

"I'm sure Spencer wouldn't mind giving you all one after dinner," Hotch answered.

"You know I was kind of surprised to get your invitation to dinner as in the three years you guys have been together you've never once invited us to your home," Morgan said feeling just a little suspicious.

"Yes, well this is kind of a special occasion," Hotch explained calmly.

"What's the occasion, boss?" asked Garcia curiously.

Hotch didn't answer verbally and simply pulled down the collar of his shirt on the left side to show the team the permanent mating mark that Spencer had gifted him with, after they had done the ritual that was considered marriage among Shifters. It had happened the first time that they'd had sex afterwards and Spencer couldn't explain why he had acted like a Shifter and given his mate a permanent mark that would never heal completely, though it would fade over time. Hotch, of course, had done the same to Spencer as the wolf in his chest had roared its immense satisfaction inside his head.

"Ohhh!" Garcia squealed happily hugging Hotch around the middle. "Congratulations!"

"Alright, what's going on?" Morgan demanded suspiciously, "What's so special about a hickey?"

"Morgan calm down," Garcia said leaving Hotch to sit beside her good friend who was also her mate though she had yet to tell him. "Hotch and I will explain if you just sit back down."

Morgan nodded curtly and did so.

"The reason I'm so excited is that mark on Hotch's neck is not just hickey it's a mating mark."

"What do you mean a mating mark?" asked JJ trying to understand

"When a Shifter, goes through a certain ritual with their True Mate," Hotch began to explain, "it is considered marriage, without having to go through human conventions of the ceremony unless mates want to for the sake of their family and friends, or to give their children legitimacy within the Normals world. Once this ritual takes place, it binds the two even tighter together then having sex for the first time does. When Spencer and I made love that first time the True Mate Bond that I knew we had snapped into place. However, it is possible to break that type of bond, although it's extremely difficult to do so, and hasn't been done in centuries, but is still possible."

"Now however, thanks to the ritual that the two of them went through where they promise to always protect and love each other the bond will now be impossible to break and whoever tries will face severe consequences of the gods or the fates or whatever you want to call the ancient forces that most people do not understand or even believe in today for they do not take kindly to anybody who tries to force True Mates apart after the marriage ritual takes place or even before, but the consequences of trying to breakup a Shifter and his mate once they have gone through the Shifter version of a marriage ceremony are quite severe," Garcia said continuing the explanation.

"The ritual can only be done with two True Mates, as it doesn't work if you're just marrying because you think you love someone and also the ritual has to be done on both peoples free will as it cannot be forced, because it will not take hold if it is," Hotch continued calmly.

Garcia was nodding to what Hotch was saying and added, "It will also backfire in a rather spectacular fashion."

"The mark I showed all of you is permanent, and will never fade completely, although it will be less visible after awhile," Hotch said.

"So that's why Garcia was congratulating you," Morgan said realizing that the explanation made sense even if he didn't know as much about Shifters as he should.

"Yes, that's why," Hotch admitted. "The ritual that Spencer and I went through as I said before is considered a marriage, a marriage where divorce is not an option, nor will either mate bother to contemplate such a thing even if it were."

"When you meet your True Mate, it's the same as meeting your soulmate would be for a human, as True Mates are two halves of a whole and never want to be separated once they do meet."

"But Spencer isn't a Shifter, unless you've been holding out on us," JJ pointed out before Morgan could.

"No, he's not, but that doesn't matter," Hotch told JJ and Morgan with Garcia nodding in agreement. "Sure, it's more than possible that a Shifter's True Mate who is human, could reject the Shifter's claims and when that happens it usually always ends in tragedy unless the human in question changes their mind, within a reasonable amount of time, which varies from Shifter to Shifter. Shifters have been known to take their own lives if their mate rejects them, but a lot of times, depending on the personality of the Shifter in question they usually live a very lonely, unfulfilled life, because half their soul is either gone or has rejected them. The bond that is between a Shifter and his True Mate, especially with the marriage ritual added in is stronger than anything known to Shifter or humankind and therefore, it is unbreakable or at least it has never been broken in all the time the ceremony has existed. Not Strauss, or anybody else can break the bond and if they try they will face the consequences, which I promise will not be pleasant."

"A True Mate Bond is almost a living breathing thing and it knows if someone is trying to break it and it also knows when a Shifter's mate is trying to leave them permanently, not just for work or some other reason like how Hotch does."

"What happens if a Shifter's mate tries to leave permanently?" asked Morgan fascinated in spite of himself.

"Well, once the bond has been accepted if a human mate tries to leave, both partners or spouses will begin to feel quite ill and the further away the mates get from each other the more they will both feel sick and two shifters who are mates would never even contemplate leaving the other, so it is always a human who tries, even if it never works because of the bond. The only way to alleviate the symptoms is to get the two back together, so you see it is impossible for two True Mates to leave each other or at least it is after they've had sex for the first time as that is when the bond snaps into place. The ritual Garcia and I were talking about is a different bond altogether, although just as important and made the first bond much stronger."

"Some Shifters never go through the ritual, as they feel that the True Mate Bond is enough, others do, it all depends on personal preferences," Garcia added.

Suddenly the timer on the oven buzzed and immediately Hotch rose and headed into the kitchen so that his food didn't burn from inattention.

"Dinner is served everyone," Hotch said. "You all sit down and get started and I'll go see what's keeping Spencer."

JJ, Morgan and Garcia went to the kitchen where they were eating without comment, although they did wonder what was keeping Hotch's partner as it was kind of suspicious that he hadn't been there to greet them.

Less than five minutes later Hotch and Spencer joined them and Reid greeted all of them cordially.

"So where were you hiding?" JJ teased her brother in all but blood.

"Nowhere really, I just got involved in some research I'm doing that's all," Spencer told his three friends truthfully. "I tend to lose all track of time, when I'm doing research."

"What kind of research?" asked Garcia if interested.

Since everybody seemed interested Spencer went on to explain exactly what kind of research he was doing for a paper in an academic magazine.

"Yes, I found him, leaning over a stack of books about this high," Hotch said holding his hand quite a bit above the table. "There were papers scattered all around with the many notes that he has been making. Spencer just loves his research."

"What can I say except that I have to have something to do while you're out of town for work," Spencer offered with a grin knowing he was being gently teased, "and my siblings are at school."

The conversation flowed more smoothly after that and even Morgan's suspicions diminished for he could definitely see Hotch's mate getting lost in the research project, losing all track of time and blocking out external sounds.

"Would you like to stay for coffee and dessert?" asked Spencer finally as soon as everybody was done eating.

"We don't want to cut into your private time," JJ protested.

"It's fine, as I hardly get to see any of you, since you're always gone and when you're not I'm always spending time with Aaron alone," Spencer urged them. "Besides, Aaron and I have something to tell you, which is the second reason we invited you over for dinner."

"I knew there was something else going on!" Morgan exclaimed.

"It's nothing bad Morgan, in fact it's a very good thing, and we decided that it's finally time for you to know," Hotch said.

"Alright," Morgan said calming down on his own.

"Why don't you go into the living room, and Hotch and I will get dessert," Spencer suggested calmly. "After that we can give you a tour if you still want one."

JJ studied her friend for a moment then nodded as she saw her brother in all but name completely relaxed and carefree. It must not be anything bad then just like Hotch said, because there was no way that Spencer would be so relaxed if it was bad news or some sort of tragedy, JJ thought as she headed into the living room and the other two following.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"So what's this news you have for us?" asked Morgan with a raised eyebrow. "I can certainly understand celebrating your marriage with a nice dinner with friends, but what else could you possibly have to tell us?"

"Well, you see…" Spencer began trying to hide his nervousness. Spencer begin to tell them the other reason they had been invited over and just as he and Aaron had expected Morgan and JJ look disbelieving though surprisingly Garcia didn't.

"You've got to be joking!" Morgan exclaimed. "Magic doesn't exist!"

"How about I demonstrate for you?" Spencer asked smilingly.

JJ, Morgan still looked disbelieving, but Garcia was watching Spencer with a little smile on her lips as if she knew exactly what was about to happen.

Spencer removed a long slim stick that looked to most people like nothing more then a piece of wood, though one that was smooth and carved prettily from his wrist holster that was no longer invisible once the wand was removed.

JJ and Morgan stared at Spencer and both wondered if they were seeing things, for where there had been nothing but bare skin there was now a slim holster where the stick of wood had come from. Was it some kind of magician's trick? Although if it was neither one of them know how I could possibly have been done, since there had been no distracting their attention or smoke or mirrors.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Spencer intoned, pointing his wand at Morgan's empty pie plate which immediately rose in the air to hover several feet above Morgan's lap.

Morgan and JJ stared at the pie plate knowing that there was no way it could be in the air above them unless it was indeed magic.

Spencer released the spell by saying, "Finite Incantatem!"

The pie plate crashed to the floor and broke into several pieces.

"Why did you do that? That was a perfectly good plate," JJ protested.

"And it will be again," Spencer promised her. "Watch! Reparo!"

Spencer pointed his wand at the broken pie plate that was perhaps, in a dozen large piece. The plate immediately rose and begin to reassemble itself in front of JJ's and Morgan's astonished eyes and once it was completely repaired the cracks disappearing until it was as if it had never been broken it glided over to Morgan and landed gently back in his lap all without a word being uttered.

Morgan and JJ stared at Spencer and then switched their gazes Hotch who was watching his mate's display with a little smile on his lips.

Morgan picked up the pie plate and examined it minutely for any cracks and finding none he put it down on the coffee table.

"Alright, that was rather impressive," Morgan admitted, "but I've known you for almost three years yet you never showed us this ability of yours."

"That's because it isn't just my ability," Spencer begin to explain calmly. "There is a whole community of witches and wizards all over the world. However, we have very strict laws about revealing ourselves to muggles, which simply means somebody without magic."

"What about Hotch then he apparently knew," JJ pointed out.

"I don't count, because Spencer is my family and vice versa," Hotch said speaking for the first time.

"Yes, what Aaron has said is the absolute truth, because the minute he identified me as his True Mate was the minute that he became my family, even if we didn't confirm that bond for almost three weeks. A lot of times a witch or wizard comes from two complete Muggles like yourselves and why this occurs is unknown and if it ever was it has since been lost. In any case, when that happens the parents of the magical child have to know as they have to be given the option of sending their child to a magical school where their ability will be trained."

"Alright, what you're telling us make sense, but the question is why have you finally decided to come forward?" asked JJ.

"And why isn't Gideon and Rossi here?"

Hotch and Spencer looked at each other before Hotch explained, "Gideon isn't here because Spencer and I decided that he would never accept the truth and would think that Spencer was either possessed or some kind of evil devil, so it was decided between us that he would not be told."

"As for Dave he had other plans and so declined our invitation, but he will be told later. We didn't want to reschedule this dinner, because for one thing it's a rare opportunity for all of us to get together and for another we wanted to tell you as soon as possible and who knows when we would have another free weekend, since a lot of times our cases last a whole week or more?"

"Spencer and I also agreed that you could keep a secret and if you don't accept this then Spencer will simply put a memory charm on all of you and you will forget this conversation ever happened. If we have to do that, all you will remember is coming over for a nice dinner and to spend some time together outside of work, but nothing at all about this conversation."

"I know this is a lot to take in," Spencer told Morgan and JJ, "but one of the reasons Aaron and I really wanted to tell you was because you're not only Aaron's honorary family your mine as well. Yes, I have seven other siblings, but that doesn't mean I don't consider you part of my family."

None of Hotch's and Spencer's three guest liked the sound of the memory charm, but only Garcia truly knew what it was.

"So your brothers and sisters…" Morgan begin finally starting to get over his shock.

"All inherited our mother's magic," Spencer said.

"Not your father?" asked Garcia speaking for the first time which startled Spencer and Hotch both as they had almost forgotten she was there, she had been so quiet.

"Our father was a muggle, without an ounce of magic in him," Reid told his friend gently.

"So your siblings…?" JJ began.

"Are at their magical boarding school that is right out in the desert of Las Vegas. It is a very small school and can't take in more than a 150 students, but normally there's not that many that live in the Las Vegas area, so it works out just fine. My twin sisters who are four years younger than I am are due to graduate in just 2 1/2 weeks and they should be right in the middle of their final exams in their various subjects."

"How do you hide this whole community, I believe of...muggles is what you called us?" asked Morgan suddenly.

"With magic," Spencer said simply causing Morgan to look embarrassed and glared at his friend, as everybody else laughed as that should have been obvious. "Joke aside, sorry I couldn't resist, there are charms that will hide things like schools or other important buildings from muggle or Shifter eyes. For one thing the school is in the desert where nobody ever goes, and if a muggle does wander into that area that's what repelling charms are for. A repelling charm as the name implies, is simply a very strong magical ward that will make somebody without magic think that they have a important appointment, or some sort of emergency elsewhere. Of course, there are other protections on the school that I won't go into as it would take way to long."

"So can we trust all three of you to keep this a secret?" asked Hotch. "You won't be leaving until you give both of us an answer, because Spencer has already magically sealed the house and it won't be unsealed until we know one way or the other. I am truly sorry they had to be done this way, but we can't let you leave until you give us a positive or negative answer, because we cannot risk this getting out to where it fell into the wrong ears."

"Our government is very strict about who can know about magic," Spencer explained hastily, as all three of the people sitting across from him and Hotch began to look nervous and apprehensive, "and while the American government isn't as bad as I the one in say England, still, I am bending the law if not outright breaking it by telling you that magic is real. However, you are all as close to me as Aaron or my siblings are and as I said earlier I consider you a part of my family, but it is unlikely the magical government will see it that way and I could be in a great deal of trouble, if they discovered I had told you, which I would rather avoid, thank you."

"Which is why you sealed the house until you got an answer," Garcia said knowing that her two friends were absolutely correct about the government and their probable reaction.

Spencer nodded shortly.

"Think of it as an equivalent of a state secret and where you have to keep it for the sake of national security and this falls along the same lines," Spencer said.

JJ and Morgan seemed to think about it and then after a few minutes nodded realizing exactly what Spencer was saying. He was saying that the secret that magic was real couldn't get out, because there would be a lot of bloodshed and a lot innocent people would die if it did. Simply put ordinary people or muggles would want what the magical folks had and that was impossible, but that didn't mean that there wouldn't be a lot of blood shed as people tried their best to get something they wanted and that was the ability to perform magic.

"Alright, I understand why you haven't told me before," Morgan said finally, "and so I give you my pledge that I won't say anything as you are my family to and I consider you a little brother."

"Thank you Morgan," Spencer told him simply with a small smile and Morgan nodded also with a smile.

"I also give you my oath that I won't say anything either," JJ said.

"Thank you, JJ," Spencer repeated with another sincere smile.

"Good," Hotch said his tone approving. "You must remember to never mention magic in a public place, as you never know who's going to be listening and especially not around Gideon."

"We know how to keep a secret, Hotch," Morgan protested. "We do keep plenty for the sake of national security after all."

"I know you do or Spencer and I never would have agreed to tell you," Hotch said, glaring playfully at his teammate. "However, it doesn't hurt to be reminded."

"What about you Garcia?" asked Spencer finally noticing that the woman he considered a flamboyant aunt had been awfully quiet as normally she was the life and soul of any gathering. Come to think of it she hadn't been surprised when he and Hotch had confessed their secret.

"Before I answer that I have a confession to make," Garcia finally said focusing the other four peoples attention in the room on her. Garcia look incredibly nervous, but plowed ahead anyway. "I am not only a Shifter, but I am also a witch and I went to the Salem Institute for Magic, which is in Massachusetts."

The other four people in the room looked shocked and Morgan in particular was looking at Garcia as if he had never seen her before.

"Why did you never tell me?" Morgan asked finally finding his voice, though it was several octaves higher than normal.

"We've only known each other for a year, Morgan," Garcia told her friend with a slight smile. "It's not something you just tell someone on first meeting and technically you shouldn't know at all, but I figured since Spencer told you his secret I would tell you mine and just get it over with and I know I can trust all to keep it to yourselves."

"So that's why you didn't look surprised, when Spencer told you he was a wizard," Hotch said appraising Garcia all over again. Hotch briefly wondered whether Garcia's rather flamboyant way of dressing and cheerful, upbeat attitude was her way of distracting everyone if something strange happened around her as Hotch well knew could happen as magic tended to happen if a witch or wizard was experiencing some kind of strong emotion, but only if their ability hadn't been trained or it could very well be just her natural personality and not a cover for anything.

"That's why," Garcia confirmed with a smile.

"Why work for the FBI if you have the ability to do so many wondrous things?" JJ asked her friend.

"Yes, magic can do many things, however, you muggles can do much more in some areas then we can with your technology. I had to make a decision, as to whether I wanted to pursue my interest in computers, or get a job with my magical education. As you can see, I decided on the latter and so I got a scholarship to college, and as computers have always fascinated me and well, to be modest, I became very good with them. I'm perfectly happy working at the BAU and have no intention to leave to get a job in the magical community. Yes, I'm very good in certain areas of magic, charms and transfiguration in particular, but I'm better with computers and that is where my true love lays and why make yourself miserable."

JJ absorbed that info she suddenly understood you had to go with your true love if you wanted to be happy as why work at a job that made you miserable? It was counterproductive as you got more done if you were happy then if you were unhappy.

"Alright then," JJ said, as calmly as possible, "but you and I will be having talk at some point about keeping secrets from one of your best friends."

"I'm sorry JJ, but it was necessary," Garcia apologized to her friend, sincerely.

"I hate to interrupt, but it's getting late and we have one more thing that we need to tell you before you go home and get some sleep," Hotch said.

"What else could you possibly have to tell us?" Morgan asked his mind still reeling from all he had seen and heard tonight.

"Well," Spencer began, "This is going to be even harder to believe then that magics real, but it's true nonetheless."

"This must be a doozy of a secret if it's harder to believe then magic being real," JJ told Spencer studying him intently.

"Oh, it is, trust me," Spencer said grinning, as he dropped the illusion he had been wearing and everyone except Hotch stared at Spencer's very swollen belly.

"What in the hell is going on?" Morgan demanded rising from his chair and taking a step forward only to be pushed back down by Garcia who was suddenly in front of him.

"Sit down Derek Morgan and give them a chance to explain before you go all ballistic! You hear me?" Garcia demand. "If you had done what you were likely thinking about doing you'd be laying on the floor probably missing a body part, as Shifters are very protective of their mates and their children. Of course, if you had attacked Hotch instead of Spencer you would still probably be laying on the floor missing a body part as magic can be just as vicious as gunfire and kills just as easily."

"Even easier actually," Spencer admitted candidly causing JJ to wince. "If you had actually gone ahead with your plan to attack either one of us, even if you never meant anything malicious by it, you would have instantly regretted it and we might have been sorry for our actions, but by then it would have been too late."

"I'm sorry," Morgan sincerely apologized, "you just shocked the hell out of me that's all."

"That's understandable, but remember to keep your emotions in check," Hotch ordered Morgan sternly, "as Garcia is absolutely right for if you actually had tried to attack either one of us, well, you probably wouldn't be dead, but would be missing some limbs more than likely and I would hate to have to find a way to explain that to our superiors at the FBI."

"I know you're very protective of me and consider me a little brother that can't protect himself, but let me promise you Derek Morgan, that I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I only showed you a few simple charms to get you to believe in magic, stuff that's basically harmless, but the wizarding world has spells...well, let's just say there wouldn't be enough left of you to fill a thimble or your body would never be found and you would simply...disappear," Spencer told him seriously glaring at his friend.

Morgan gulped and nodded. He believed what Spencer was telling him without a demonstration because it was a certain glimmer in his golden brown eyes that he had never seen before and that told Morgan all he needed to know about what his friend would do to him if he went to far.

"Oh, come on Morgan, cheer up, you have no reason to worry and I promise you that I have no intention to do you or anybody else harm as you are like an older brother to me after all," Spencer joked. "Relax I'm still the same man you've known for almost three years, you've just never had a chance to see this side of my personality, that's all. Just like you I'm fiercely protective of my family and those I care for and so long as you don't do anything to harm them then we'll always be friends."

Morgan relaxed at that, as the Spencer he knew came back and he immediately promised himself that he would never give the man he considered a brother a reason to do him harm or to distrust him

"So why exactly do you look like you're pregnant?" JJ asked carefully.

"Because I am," Spencer explained simply, "With quints actually."

"How is this possible?" Morgan demanded as he stared in fascination and no little horror at his friend's very bulging stomach. "I mean you are a man after all unless there is something you want to tell us..."

"Well, there is something that Aaron and I wanted to tell you and no I'm still a man and no I was never a woman as I know that's what you are both thinking," Spencer said.

Both Morgan and JJ looked startled that Spencer had figured out what they were thinking so fast and then sheepish, as they supposed that their thoughts were pretty obvious.

"Okay, so what's the explanation?" JJ said, as she stared at Spencer's very pregnant and prominent belly.

Spencer told them, explaining slowly, all about how magic could give him a womb and other female parts temporarily.

"So let me see if I understand this," JJ said her mind still reeling at what she had been told. "A wizard about 11 years ago created a series of spells because his wife couldn't get pregnant and they desperately wanted a child. The couple were turned down for adoption, and so the wizard finally decided that if they were going to have a child then he would have to be the one to get pregnant, since thanks to a childhood disease the wife he loved was infertile."

"That's the story more or less," Spencer agreed calmly.

"You know how insane that sounds?" JJ demanded.

"Of course, I do!" Spencer told her in a near shout as the stress was getting to him. "Of course, I know how it ridiculous that sounds, but I'd rather tell you the truth as I didn't have to put a spell on you once our children are born to get you to just kind of look past the fact that they will probably look like a combination of Aaron and I!"

JJ looked startled at her friend's tone then realized ruefully that she deserved it. Here her friend was near the end of his pregnancy, not to mention he was carrying quints, and she was being pushy and near hysterical, but in her defense she'd had a lot things to accept in a very short amount of time, things that had absolutely rocked her world. Things she thought she knew to be absolutely true were not, so of course, she was shocked, was that so surprising? After all men weren't supposed to be able to get pregnant, spells or no spells and yet here was her friend, who was undoubtably a man and also undeniably pregnant.

"So when are you due?" Garcia asked, speaking for the first time since she had stopped Morgan from doing something stupid.

"Well, technically, I'm not due for about seven weeks, but I'm going to have a cesarean section in two."

"And where are you going to get this operation done since no regular hospital would take you and probably turn you over to the government for them to experiment on to try to figure out how a man got pregnant," Morgan pointed out what he thought was a perfectly logical point and everybody except JJ laughed at him.

"What's so funny?" Morgan demanded looking offended.

"You are," Garcia told her friend laughing heartily. "I thought you realized that when Spencer was talking about the spells that were put on him to allow him to temporarily be able to conceive that it was done by one of the magical communities own healers, which is doctor to you. I thought you would realize that the magical world is an entirely separate community and that there are witches and wizards all over the world. We of the magical community have our own hospitals, jobs, schools, banking and really anything that the muggle world has, it's just hidden from muggle eyes."

"You have to forgive me if I didn't quite catch that as I've had quite a lot to absorb tonight," Morgan told everybody sarcastically.

"Yes, you and JJ have had quite a lot to absorb tonight and we're sorry for dumping it on you all at once, but as Spencer told you he's due to go for a c-section, in just a couple weeks and we wanted to get all our secrets out of the way before that actually happened, so that you would have time to sit and absorb the news," Hotch apologized to his three subordinates.

"You did it because you didn't want to have to put a spell on us, so we would ignore how much the children will probably look like both of you together," JJ realized.

"Exactly," Spencer and Hotch agreed at the same time, causing the other three people in the living room to smile as they sounded almost exactly like twins at that moment, even if they didn't look like twins, with them being different ages, heights and masculinities.

"Also Spencer and I were discussing it and we would like you Morgan to be one of the godparents for at least one of them and you to JJ and Garcia," Hotch said.

"Just so you know being a godparent, is a very sacred duty in the magical world and I will be placing a spell on you after they are born that will make it official if you accept that is. You will all be a major part of any children we decide to have lives, even if you don't accept the godparent role."

"I accept," Morgan said immediately honored that they had asked him to be one of the children's godparents.

"So do I," Garcia agreed immediately

"And me!" JJ piped up not one to be left out.

"Good," Hotch said pleased. "We will also be asking Dave to be a godparent as well once we tell him all we've told you tonight."

"What about Gideon? Or Strauss for that matter? How are you going to explain how you have children?" asked Morgan. "I mean at least some of them are bound to look like a combination of both of you so you can't exactly tell somebody that you adopted them and that they are not related to you."

"Don't worry Aaron then I have already discussed this," Spencer told his three houseguests. "We're going to do the same spells that we would have done on you if you hadn't accepted that magic was real."

"Oh, you mean the one that will make somebody look at your children, but not recognize them as biologically yours?" asked Garcia, catching on immediately.

"Yes, and also one that will make someone forget our children as soon as they are out of sight and even if that person sees them again, they will not remember ever having met them before," Spencer explained.

"How are you going to take care of them by yourself?" asked JJ. "I mean Hotch is it work a lot of the time and your siblings at school for most of the year..."

"Don't worry as we have been interviewing nannies," Hotch immediately explained. "We haven't found one that's suitable yet, but hopefully, we will before these babies are born and if we don't find one Spencer can certainly take care of them until we do. Besides, Spencer's siblings will be home a week after their births and they can help out until we find a couple of suitable nannies."

"So you put an ad in one of the magical newspapers," Garcia said and both Spencer and Hotch nodded at the same time.

"Not just in one, but in both the Washington and Virginia one," Spencer said.

"So have you had many applicants?" asked JJ.

Hotch snorted and Spencer snickered and the other three people on the room looked at there to hosts in confusion.

"Oh, we've had plenty of applicants, but the thing is every single one of them has either come on to me, tried to convince me to hire them and then marry them, so they can live their lives as lazy bums in the lap of luxury, or they made it clear that they disapprove of two men in a relationship and the fact that I'm pregnant with another man's babies," Spencer explained. "They seemed to believe that our ad in the two papers, was just a cover for interviewing a woman for the position as my mistress."

Everyone burst out laughing at that, because if you knew anything about Hotch and Spencer there was no way in hell that Spencer had been interviewing and those women for that particular position. Anybody who couldn't see that Hotch and Spencer were deeply in love needed to have their eyes checked.

"Yes, I know what you three are thinking, and I don't blame you, but unfortunately, I wasn't here when most of the interviews took place, because I was working, so is it any wonder that those woman believed that Spencer was interviewing them for the position of his mistress?" asked Hotch, snorting in amusement again.

"No, not really," Morgan admitted, "not when you lay it out like that."

"So where will you be having this c-section?" asked JJ curiously.

"St. Murphy's magical hospital," Spencer told them. "I also work there just so you know and I just graduated to healer the status instead of trainee last year."

"Aren't you awfully young to already be a healer?" asked Morgan. "I mean you only what 22?"

"23 actually, and no I'm not too young," Spencer said. "You see most wizarding folks don't ever go to college and they immediately enter the workforce once they have graduated from whatever magical school they attended and have taken their final exams. Jobs like becoming a healer are along the lines of mentor and protégé. A senior healer takes you under his wing and teaches you everything you need to know. I would have graduated to healer status much sooner, but I've been taking the summers off to spend with my siblings while they were home from school, but since Liya and Leah graduate this year I'll have two less siblings to worry about, as they plan to get a place of their own, together."

"They promised that they'd be by to visit frequently and to help take care of the quints, but we still need at least two fulltime nannies and we've had no luck on that front."

"You'll find someone," Garcia predicted.

"I hope so," Spencer said with a sigh, "as I'm tired of these young women trying to come onto me."

"So what kind of nannies are you trying to hire?" asked Morgan.

"Magical ones," Spencer told Morgan knowing exactly what his friend was trying to ask. "We can't exactly hire muggle ones because some, if not all these children will inherit my ability to do magic and the magical world must remain a secret from most of those that do not have the ability."

"Why won't they all get your magical ability because after all you and your siblings got it from your mother, didn't you?" asked JJ curiously trying to understand.

"Because JJ, magical ability can be rather tricky," Spencer explained. "A lot of times when one parent has magic and the other is a muggle or a Shifter some children will get the ability and others won't and unlike with a Shifter where that particular gene is dominant, for about four generations, a lot times the magical one isn't. Me and my siblings were lucky that we all inherited mom's magical talent, but then it has always run strong in the Potter line and that has a lot to do with it as well. Think of magic like...well a child that gets blue eyes, even though his parents have brown. Brown is the dominant color over all the others and both parents would have to have the gene for blue eyes in order for their child to have even a slim chance of inheriting them, because otherwise they would be brown."

"So you're saying magic runs along the same lines," JJ said and Spencer nodded.

"If a witch or wizard has only a weak talent for magic then it's unlikely that more than one or two of their children will inherit it, depending on how many they have, of course. However, someone like the Potters, which my mother was before she married, that has above average magical abilities it is likely that all the children will inherit it, although it isn't a sure thing of course, because genetics are still a rather tricky area of science and tend to throw up anomalies from time to time."

"So what about that tour?" JJ suggested. "I know there's much more about the magical world that we have not heard about, but Morgan and I need time to absorb what we have been told before you try to tell us anything else."

"That's reasonable," Hotch said and Spencer nodded in agreement.

"I'll be happy to give you a tour of my home," Spencer said with a smile totally relaxed now that he knew his three friends had accepted what they had been told.

Spencer and Hotch both rose from the couch where they had been sitting very close together and started showing their friends around the ground floor of the house that had been in the Potter family for generations.

"This house has been in my family for generations," Spencer began as they continued the tour. "In fact it is not uncommon in a old pureblood family to have properties in different parts of the world and that is what my family was for many generations, although mostly they are not anymore. The Potter line is originally English and I might still have some relatives over there, somewhere. In any case, this house was bought sometime in the 1600s, by my great-great-grandfather. You have to understand the back then families were much larger than they are today and the Potters still produce quite a few children per generation."

"That ought to be obvious," Morgan snorted, "since you do have seven brothers and sisters."

"That's nothing Morgan, as I happen to have 18 brothers and sisters," Hotch chipped in causing JJ and Morgan to stare at their boss as if he had grown three heads.

"18? There're 18 of you?" exclaimed JJ.

"I'm afraid so," Hotch admitted looking rather sheepish. "Shifters are known for producing multiples anyway just like there animal counterparts, but I have to admit that 18 is out of the ordinary."

"Why so many?" asked Morgan now.

"Well, my parents marriage was arranged," Hotch begin to explain. "That's not really all that unusual in certain high society families like the one I came from, but my father came from one that has certain ideas about a woman's place. In father's view it was a woman's sacred duty to provide as many pups as possible and women Shifters tend to be unusually fertile anyway, although that's not always the case of course, but mostly it is. In any case, I am the only single birth in the whole family and my mother was pregnant only seven times in a 13 year period."

"She must have had several sets of triplets and twins to get that many," JJ said shaking her head in astonishment.

"She did except, she also had one set of quadruplets," Hotch said. "My mother begged my father after her fifth pregnancy to allow her to have her tubes tied so that she wouldn't get pregnant anymore, but my father refused believing that it was a woman's sacred duty to have as many pups as possible as I said a minute ago. Finally after two more pregnancies the last one of which nearly killed her he allowed her to have the operation, so that she wouldn't get pregnant again and he acted like he was granting her a great favor."

"Actually the odds of having multiples increases considerably when it's two Shifters together," Spencer interjected.

"Your father seems kind of…" Morgan said searching for a word that would not offend his boss.

"Oh, go ahead and say what you're thinking because believe me, I agree with you," Hotch told Morgan with a ironic little smile, knowing precisely what his teammate was thinking, but didn't want to say in case it offended him, since technically he was Morgan's boss as well as friend. "Where my parents are concerned I promise you that you don't have to worry about my sensibilities."

"Alright then, your father seems like a bit of the bastard," Morgan said.

"I agree with you," Hotch told him. "Believe me, father was a rather cruel man and my mother wasn't any better, although I realize that part of the reason she's so bad was because of the way my father treated her, as nothing more then a babymaker and someone to keep the house that kind of thing can change you permanently if you have to suffer or hear the same thing again and again."

"My family has also been known to have quite a few children, more than my parents did," Spencer said with a shrug. "The Potters were once quite numerous, but we are the only branch left that I know about anyway, although it's possible, even likely there are more out there that have just been lost track of over time. Families that have multiple children tend to loose contact with each other over centuries, as families move aware from the city they were born to start a new life elsewhere and I'm sure that if I truly did a search I would find numerous relatives."

"Anyway let's get back to the tour," Hotch suggested and the other four people present nodded

Spencer finished showing them around the first floor and kept telling them a little about the history of the Potter family, as he showed them the beautiful, elegant home.

Spencer led the way upstairs and open the door to one of the guestrooms to have his guests look inside and JJ Garcia were both suitably impressed.

"Wow! I might want to move in here!" Garcia cooed as her gaze swept the room. "These are really nice!"

"Thank you," Spencer told Garcia with a smile. "Most of the rooms are closed up actually except for the portion of the house that is being lived in at the moment. I will magically unseal the rooms when and if we need them, but really only some of the rooms on this floor and the first are being used at the moment. Mine and Aaron's room is on the fourth floor, but I only did that to, prevent myself from being woken up when my siblings made a lot of noise. Besides, the master suite is mine since I'm the one in charge since my parents are dead, which is on the fourth floor, as that is just the way the house was designed and that is the one that I have taken over."

"There is also a nursery on the fourth floor that was part of the house originally and it has been cleaned and redecorated for the children that will be here in a couple of weeks, so this way neither Spencer or I will have to go downstairs to check on them," Hotch said.

"Oh, can we see?" Garcia asked enthusiastically and Spencer nodded.

"Of course, let's finish the tour of this floor and then I'll take you up to show you the nursery, that I spent my days off for quite a few weeks repainting from top to bottom and rooting around in the attic and the basement for all the necessary baby equipment used by my ancestors. I did have to buy some things new or transfigure them, whichever one worked best, but there were quite a few cribs bassinets and other things like that shrunk down in several steamer trunks in the attic.

"What do you mean transfigure?" ask Morgan.

"It simply means changing something like a pebble into something else entirely," Garcia cut in before Spencer could start explaining. "Say you have a piece of wood and you would like to make it into a cradle all you have to do is do the proper spells and also have a good imagination as that is required to get what you want, but do it right and you have yourself a nice cradle, that will last for centuries and nobody will ever know that it was once just a piece of wood."

"Of course, you can reverse the transfiguration and turn it back into what it was originally, but why bother? Why spend the money unless you have to even if you have plenty of it? Transfiguring items into other items is a good way to save money when you're furnishing a new apartment for example," Spencer explained.

"Transfiguration is a very difficult branch of magic and some people just aren't very good at it. Of course, this has a lot to do with the power, as some transfiguration take a great deal and a lot of witches and wizards just don't possess the magical strength to be very good at this subject," Garcia continued.

"You'll find that a lot magic, transfiguration in particular, is all about concentration and intent as you have to have a great deal of concentration and a strong will in order to be good at transfiguration because it isn't just about the proper wand movement, or saying the words correctly and as Penelope said it takes a vivid imagination, but also a good understanding of the properties of whatever material you are trying to transfigure. Of course, every magic discipline has things that cannot be done, and one of those things is that you cannot conjure or transfigure something else into food just for example, well not unless it was food to begin with. Say you have army rations in your backpack, since it is technically food you can transfigure it to be some other food type, but you can't turn a piece of wood or stone into something edible," Spencer said.

"Magic sounds rather complicated," Morgan commented.

"It can be, but then so is anything that is worth learning or doing," Spencer told his friend. "Everybody has their different talents so that means that some magical people will be good in charms or transfiguration or both, but they might be lousy at say defense against the dark arts. It's very rare when a child is good in more than one or two subjects and no I'm not saying that they don't pass their exams just that they have to find what they have an actual flair for and what comes easily to them. There are subjects that they won't have to struggle with or study twice as hard and others that they will have to put more effect into. It's kind of like having a talent for music or football, or really anything like that."

"So like anything else you have to practice in order to get good at it," JJ commented and Spencer nodded.

"The exams that my brothers and sisters should be taking right now have both a practical and a written portion, so if you do lousily on one part and good on the other then you're still likely to pass, just not with as high grade as you had hoped for."

"I'll bet you got A in every subject that you're school teaches," Morgan told his friend who grinned.

"I certainly did on the academic portions," Spencer admitted, "but as for the practical application... Yes, I'm excellent in charms, transfiguration, arithmancy, runes, potions and history, but four of those don't involve magic while the other two do. I did okay, in defense against the dark arts and I certainly passed, but I just don't have a flair for it like some do. I also took a rituals class in my last year which also involves runes and it teaches you about certain light magic rituals that can be done, but most of them have to be done on certain days of the year like the spring equinox."

"Why do some rituals have to be done then?" JJ asked.

"Because you'll soon realize that a lot of magic is the magic of the Earth," Garcia said. "Back centuries ago before modern civilization the Earth was ancient and wild where gods and goddesses and acts of magic were common, especially in places like Greece and Japan. The human race has forgotten this for the most part, although they have plenty of legends, which had to come from somewhere. Nowadays, we don't practice most of that ancient magic and in fact a great deal of it has been lost, as it either fell out of favor or the families that taught their children how to perform it died out as that kind of thing was never written down since it could very easily fall into the wrong hands."

"Magic is different today than it was centuries ago," Spencer continued. "Magical people back thousands of years ago didn't use wands and in fact they hadn't even been invented yet. Magic was more wild and free, and less tamed and structured back then and of course, also more dangerous. Magic has been made safer then it was so long ago, and that is why so many practices fell out of favor as they were considered either too dangerous or wrong by the magicals of the time."

"Ritual magic is about all that remains of that ancient time, even though it is not used so much anymore, except for some of the really old families that have been around for thousands of years."

Spencer kept showing his friends house and they were amazed at how many bedrooms the house had each with it's own sitting room and fireplace.

"And finally this is a nursery," Spencer finally said pushing open the door to an extremely large room, where there was easily space for at least a dozen or more cribs.

"Whoah! Why so big?" asked JJ looking around and noticing that the walls had been painted in a light blue, and that there were already five beautiful cribs of some dark wood just standing waiting for their occupants. The cribs weren't made up yet, but they would be sometime in the next week JJ bet. Against one wall were several chest of drawers, as well as a large changing table, and everything else you needed when you had infants in the house.

"Well, centuries ago it was a common thing for all of one family line to live together," Spencer explained. "Grandparents, aunts, uncles, children, all lived in the same house and therefore, the nursery is necessarily big so that the family could grow. There were usually at least three or four young married couples, in the house at any one time and of course, they were going to have children, so the nursery is this size so that there was room for all of them without it being crowded."

"This room is about the size of four regular rooms that you showed us," Morgan said looking around.

"Yes, well, this room takes up most of the top floor on this side and really the only bedroom up here is the master and the nanny's suite as the person looking after the children if it wasn't family needed somewhere close by to sleep, so they didn't have to climb all those stairs in the middle of the night and the suite for the nanny is part of the nursery itself and isn't visible unless you actually enter the nursery first. Also if I took you to the other side of the hall there is another nursery over there that is just as big as this one is and the reason for that sometimes there was that 30 to 40 children of varying ages in the same house. The one across the hall though is set up for young children and not infants and it's kind of a combination playroom and nursery as children under five would spend a great deal of time in that room once they've passed the toddler stage being watched over by their caregivers, usually the grandparents, or uncles and aunts who didn't work, but as I said some families had nannies that were not related to the family and when they did they slept close to their charges. Nowadays, things are different and although the nurseries are still used, the children are allowed all over the house and aren't restricted to this floor."

"Of course, Spencer had already put a spell on the stairs and it will immediately turn into a slide if one of the children starts to tumble down," Hotch added.

"In the past that was one of the reasons that the younger children weren't allowed off this floor at least not without adult supervision because a tumble down the stairs...well, it was likely that they would break their necks, and centuries ago this spell wasn't invented yet so it was just safer."

"So you mentioned having 30 or 40 young children in the house at the same time this room isn't big enough for that many children under two," JJ commented

"It can be magically expanded and all you have to do is tap the wall and say the proper word, and it will become double the size of what it is like now."

"Magic is so strange," Morgan said shaking his head, "Don't you people believe, in things like walls? I mean if you expanded the room it would no longer fit the dimensions of the house."

"Did I say that the room would still be in this dimension?" Spencer asked his three friends with a wide grin, as everybody except Garcia looked confused. "Think of it like a pocket universe that when you expand it so that it no longer fits the dimensions of the original room. Have you ever seen Dr. Who?"

Everybody nodded and so Spencer said, "Well, think of the good doctor's Tardis and how it is much bigger on the inside and it is on the outside and you will understand as this is the same concept."

Spencer didn't bother to tell them that the room could be expanded an infinite number of times until there were 500 or more crib, because as the room expanded more cribs would appear and so would more chests and changing tables. Basically everything doubled each time the room was expanded, which he didn't bother to tell Morgan and JJ because he thought they had quite enough to accept for the moment.

"I think it's time for us to head home as it's getting quite late and it's a good thing I don't have to work tomorrow, so I plan on sleeping in," Garcia finally announced.

"Yeah, me too," JJ agreed.

"I'll show you out," Hotch said and gave Spencer a look that told him to get ready for bed without him having to say a word. He didn't really want to have his mate have to climb down and then back up the stairs again, especially not with him so close to his giving birth.

"I'm so happy for you and Spencer," JJ told her boss and Hotch smiled at her.

"Thanks, Spencer and I were both worried about whether any of you would accept what we had to tell you, because believe me, I know how hard it is to believe and you all know me well enough to know that normally I'm not the kind to believe in magic, real magic, not just stage magic," Hotch said.

"I'm so happy for you and for bossman," Garcia told Spencer hugging him around the middle her arms not connecting with each other like they normally did thanks to his very extended belly.

"Thank you," Spencer told Garcia returning her hug and kissing her on the cheek. "Believe me, Aaron and I did consider adopting until my mentor Addison told me about the spells that would allow me to have children of my own with the man I love. I know this would not be possible if not for magic, so for that reason alone I'm grateful that I'm a wizard, since it takes a person with magic for these spells to work, so it wouldn't work on a muggle or a Shifter, in other words, those without magic."

Morgan also gave Spencer a hug and then Hotch escorted them them downstairs and showed them out.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	7. Chapter 7

Two weeks later, both Spencer and Hotch arrived for their appointment at St. Murphy's, Spencer's belly having grown several inches in that short amount of time.

Since Hotch had not already been on a case he had taken a personal day off, so that he could be with Spencer for his c-section, although he wouldn't actually be in the operating room, as that wasn't allowed. He would however, be in the waiting room that was just down the hall pacing back-and-forth, even though he knew this operation wouldn't take more than a couple of hours and that it was standard procedure with more than twins.

Hotch was still amazed when he had been told that how fast Spencer would recover from the operation and that within a week he would be back to normal. It wasn't that he disbelieved what he had been told because he had seen magic do many wondrous things over the last three years, but that didn't mean he wasn't still astonished.

Spencer checked in and was directed to the proper floor by the receptionist, even though he knew the way, considering he worked there. The receptionist looked on Spencer's pregnant belly and then at Hotch disapprovingly, although she said nothing.

It was only a few minutes after the two men had arrived on the proper floor and checked in that Spencer was escorted into the operating theater while Hotch was left to wait in the waiting room that was just down the hall. Hotch tried to sit calmly, and read one of the wizarding magazines, but after only a few minutes he was up and pacing, as he just couldn't seem to be his usual calm and in control self when he was worried about his mate, because if anything happened to him...

He knew that Dave would tell him to think positively if he was there and that women had been going through childbirth for thousands of years and came out of it fine and while his mate wasn't a woman, he was on the inside at the moment and would remain so until after the babies were born. If Spencer came out of this okay and wanted to have more after this then he would be happy to oblige, a few years down the road of course. He knew that his mate was plenty young enough to have 40 children if he really wanted to, considering that witches were fertile up until their mid-50s, and he didn't see any reason it would be any different for Spencer just because he was a man, since he still had magic.

There was no way that he would allow Spencer to have children that late in his life, but he knew his mate was sensible and that if he was still having children a few years from now he would likely stop by the time he was 40 or so, because even if he did, that was still over 16 years away and in that amount of time, they could have one of the largest family's in the world. Even if they only had children every three or four years it was likely that they would have over a dozen children simply because it was very likely that they would keep having multiples and likely at least four or five at one time instead of just twins. Hotch wouldn't be surprised if they ended up with 30 children or more considering. If they did he certainly wouldn't mind in the least as he truly did love children and he knew that Spencer did as well.

If they did have that many they were going to have to come up with another explanation as there was no way that people would believe that they were all his or Spencer's nieces and nephews.

Perhaps, IVF, Hotch mused. Yes, IVF was expensive, but Spencer certainly had the funds and if they did tell people that they wouldn't even have to put those spells on certain people, which would be good and he knew his mate would agree, since he had been reluctant to put those spells on ordinary people, but would have if it was necessary, for their family's safety.

Well, he wasn't going to worry about it right now, as that was for a future discussion with his mate and probably not for at least a year or two. Hotch knew that if they were both wizards, then they wouldn't have to worry about explaining where all the children come from, but thanks to his job with the FBI there had to be a logical explanation for the children's existences.

"Excuse me are you Aaron Hotchner?" asked a female voice asked from the doorway of the waiting room.

Hotch looked up startled, but finally nodded. "Yes, I am."

"Healer Addison wanted me to come and tell you that Spencer is fine and the operation was successful."

"Thank you, Ms.…"

"Mrs. Golden," the nurse corrected.

"Thank you, Mrs. Golden," Hotch said. "Did Healer Addison say when I could see Spencer?"

"In about half an hour as he's still in recovery," Nurse Golden said thinking that Aaron Hotchner was a very handsome man, but unfortunately, he was already taken, because a man didn't go to the trouble of having spells put on him, in order to create a temporary womb, not to mention the other woman parts necessary for having children if he and his partner weren't seriously involved.

"How are my children?" asked Hotch next, relaxing considerably now that he knew his may have come to the operation okay.

"The six of them all are surprisingly good condition," Golden admitted with a smile. "All of them weigh at least 4 to 5 pounds, which is extraordinary considering how many there are and the fact that they were born five weeks early. It's clear that your partner has been taking care of himself and eating healthily or there is no way that the babies would be such a good weight. In fact they are in such perfect health they should be able to go home in a couple of days, but that is of course, up to the healer in charge and not my humble self."

"Six?" asked Hotch startled. "We were only expecting five."

"Yeah, well as I'm sure you know it's very easy to hide another baby behind his brothers and sisters," Golden said dryly.

"So it's another boy then," Hotch said catching on to what Golden had said immediately.

"Yes, he is and every single one of them is so cute, adorable, that they are going to be heartbreakers when they get older that you're going to have to watch out."

"Oh, Spencer and I will," Hotch promised her with a wide grin. "They will be taught how to defend themselves though and they will not be helpless."

"Oh, you're not going to be one of those families that only teaches their daughters that they are good for marriage and not much else?" asked Golden.

"Oh, no, Spencer and I definitely don't think like that," Hotch told Golden with a small smile. "I have quite a few sisters that would kick my ass if I did and Spencer also has four sisters who know how to speak their own minds and how to defend themselves."

Not to mention the two females on the team would certainly kick my butt from here to Timbuktu if I dared voice such an opinion, Hotch thought ruefully.

"Good," Golden said approvingly. "That's exactly how it should be."

"Could you direct me to the nursery, so I can see my children before I go see Spencer?"

"Of course," Golden said cordially regretting that such a nice modern man was already taken and by another man no less. Golden gave Hotch directions and he immediately bid her goodbye as he headed directly to the nursery too see his six children one of which was a very pleasant, if unexpected surprise.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"How are you feeling?" Hotch asked strolling into his mate's room confidently.

"At the moment sore, but that won't last more than a day or so," Spencer said tiredly.

"So have you seen children yet?" asked Hotch.

"No, they put me under a sleeping spell, so I wasn't conscious for the actual operation," Spencer answered.

"That's good," Hotch said approvingly. "I hate to think of you in any pain, especially that kind of pain."

"So have you been by the nursery to see all five children?" asked Spencer a little sleepily.

Hotch looked surprised for a moment when his mate said five, but then realized that the healers hadn't told him about the sixth one yet.

"I have and all of them are so cute and adorable, but Spencer there wasn't just five, there were six," Hotch said.

"Six?" asked Spencer blinking his golden brown eyes in astonishment at his mate.

"Six," Hotch confirmed. "One of the nurses came to tell me that you had made it through the operation, with no problems, but I couldn't help worrying until I knew you were okay, as you are the most important person in the world to me as you and Addison are well aware. In any case, the nurse told me that there were six instead of the five we were expecting and that the last one was hidden behind all his brothers and sisters."

"So the sixth one is a boy then," Spencer said catching onto what Aaron said immediately.

"Yes," Hotch confirmed calmly. "They are all fraternal, which isn't surprising, nor is the fact that we got six children instead of the five we were expecting."

"So are they healthy?" asked Spencer just a little anxiously.

"They are, according to the nurse that came to tell me that you were okay on Addison orders, as he knew I would be worried until I knew. The nurse told me that it was actually surprising that all the babies were between four and five pounds, which is extremely big considering there were six of them instead of just twins or triplets. She told me that she knew you had been taking care of your health, as there is no way that all six children would be so big if you hadn't been. According to her we should be able to take them home in a couple of days instead of one or more of them having to stay for an extended length of time."

"That's good," Spencer said tiredly, "I suppose the Dragon Lady's methods work then."

Hotch snorted at that because Spencer still insisted on calling the nurse that had been making sure he ate healthily and took care of himself the Dragon Lady, even if it was because of her that their pups were in such excellent health and Spencer to, of course.

"You should be grateful to her instead of calling her the Dragon Lady," Hotch told his mate sternly.

"I am," Spencer admitted quietly, "but she would think I had gone around the twist if I told her how grateful I am for how she kept pestering me until I did what she said."

"You know I haven't thought of it before now, but perhaps, she could recommend some nurses that would actually be interested in doing their jobs," Hotch mused.

"Why don't you ask her while I'm stuck in here?" Spencer suggested. "You know it's going to be a pain to lose all this weight I've gained and unfortunately, there's no way magically to do that, I'm just going to have to watch what I eat until I am back to my normal pre-baby weight."

"I'll love you no matter how much you weigh," Hotch told Spencer sincerely. "Personally, I don't think you look all that bad. Sure you could stand to lose maybe 30 or 40 pounds of that baby weight, but I think you should stop after that as I always felt that you were entirely to thin, although not unhealthily so or anything, just that you could use some more meat on your bones."

"Alright then," Spencer agreed without argument, "I'll keep on at least 10 extra pounds."

"That would be good," Hotch said approvingly, kissing his mate on his forehead gently. "Personally, I think you look gorgeous, even with the 40 or so extra pounds you gained from the pregnancy."

"And you're not prejudiced, are you?" Spencer asked sarcastically, but with a smile, since they both knew that Aaron Hotchner was indeed very prejudiced when it came to his mate, but the reverse was also true so it evened out.

"Of course not," Hotch said with a straight face causing Spencer to laugh.

"Actually it's probably closer to 50, but I'd have to weigh to be sure," Spencer said after a moment. "I still remember precisely what I weighed before I was pregnant."

"Of course, you do," Hotch said rolling his eyes.

"You know the healer told me just before you came in that he has rarely seen such a textbook case of so many children being born at the same time that are perfectly healthy," Spencer said.

"Well, part of that is the Shifter genes, as Shifter infants to be hardier then normal human infants for the most part," Hotch explained. "Of course, the other part of it is that you took care of yourself and ate properly so that the babies would develop like they should and were therefore, less likely to die or have other medical problems."

"Magic likely has something to do with it as well, since magical infants tend to cling to life," Spencer said. "You know I wonder if it is possible to get pregnant again right away."

Hotch looked startled at his mate's words and asked, "Why?"

"Well, I would just gain all this weight again when I got pregnant in a few more years," Spencer explained his logic. "I just thought if I go pregnant again right away I wouldn't have to worry about gaining all this weight back in another three or four years when or if we decide to have more. It isn't like I'm going to be breastfeeding them, and even though I have a vagina now that will vanish, in a few weeks. Besides, this pregnancy was incredibly easy, my only complaint really is that doing the last trimester I seemed to constantly be in the bathroom, and I couldn't bend down very well. Other than that it really was incredibly easy and even not being able to bend down wasn't too bad because I could just use magic to get whatever it was off the floor, so it was mainly the constant peeing that was so annoying."

"You know I've enjoyed making love to you for the last few weeks where you had a woman's vagina instead of your normal bits," Hotch mused with a grin, "and I'm certainly going to miss it when it vanishes, but if that's really what you want to do, and if Addison tells us that it is safe, then I don't mind so long as we get help with all the babies."

Unfortunately, the two of them had still not found any decent help for their newborn infants, as the last few interviews had been the same as the numerous ones before them.

"We can ask Addison maybe he can recommend two or three nurses if the Dragon Lady can't," Spencer suggested and Hotch nodded.

"If we keep having children we're going to need a whole platoon of nurses," Hotch said with an amused smile.

"Oh, I don't plan on having anymore after this at least not for three or four years, and possibly not at all, as I think with this next batch that will be enough for us to handle at least for the foreseeable future."

"Yes, I was never planning on having so many pups had my mate been a woman," Hotch reflected. "Sure I wanted pups, but I thought that whoever my mate was she'd get pregnant two, maybe three times, depending on how many pups she had each time, and that would be it. I never imagined that my mate would have six pups at a times, not that I'm not happy about it, just that I never expected it."

"Well, I did tell you that the Potters tended to have anywhere between 5 and 15 children," Reid reminded him with a tired grin and Hotch nodded.

"Yes, I remember," Hotch said with a grin, as he did indeed remember that conversation.

"Well, what I didn't mention at the time was that there were a few that had over 20, but that only happened like three times and only in the last hundred years when medical technology was advanced enough that there was a good chance that the wife would live through so many pregnancies."

"That's a lot," Hotch said, not even startled, but that might have been because he had gone numb to such shocks when it came to the subject of having so many pups.

"Yes, well, I'm sure you can guess they were mostly multiples, although there was never more then quads, so the three women in question didn't have to get pregnant as many times to have their family," Spencer explained.

"If we have that many we are going to need to get a bigger house," Hotch said. "I'm not saying we can't afford them, just that there is such a thing as having too many pups running around."

"So they can share as the rooms are plenty big enough for that," Spencer said with a shrug, "and I didn't say we would have that many just that it was possible."

"We also need to think of things like transporting them from place to place," Hotch pointed out. "At this rate we'll have to buy a bus in order to fit them all."

"Actually I can just magic the car to where it is bigger on the inside and it is on the outside like the nursery and it will fit as many as we need it to. I will also put a mild notice me not charm on it so that nobody will notice that many people getting out that shouldn't fit."

"That will work," Hotch mused. "It might be easier to just to buy a bus even if that will be more noticeable and then do that magic on the inside."

"A full size van will hold up to a dozen normally," Spencer said, "and if I do the magic on the inside it will hold many more then that."

"There is an idea," Hotch said perking up. "I'm sure Morgan or Garcia will complain that it has no style, but really all it has to do is get us from one place to another, even if they do guzzle gas."

"I'll look into it, as soon as I have a chance," Spencer assured him. "Right now, we don't really need to worry about it too much, as we only need the van for when we go places in the muggle world as using a Portkey or the Floo is much easier and also faster."

"They will have to go to school when they reach a certain age," Hotch pointed out.

"Yeah, they will, although a lot of magical children are home taught, just like me and my siblings were," Spencer admitted. "So have you thought of how we're going to explain to the school administration and the teachers how we have children?"

"I just thought you could do the same spell you're going to do on, Strauss," Hotch said and Spencer nodded. "The one that won't make anybody question whose children they are."

"We can do that, although we can't do the one where the teachers or the administration office of the school forget they attend there like we can do to Strauss. Luckily, it's two separate spells, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"We could tell the teachers and the school administration that they are our nieces and nephews who lost their parents," Hotch said.

"That will work with this first batch, but not with any of the others," Spencer said.

"I suppose they could be home taught and we could hire a tutor," Hotch mused.

"Which is perfectly acceptable, as some parents just prefer to not send their kids to public school where they might be picked on and ridiculed if they show too much intelligence. Neither, me or my siblings went to public school as you know. Once we go to that private boarding school, they would be well prepared knowing how to read, write, spell, do math, all the basics. The tutor can even start teaching them the beginnings of ancient runes, which is taught from year one until the end of the fifth, they can either drop it after that or continue on with it until they graduate or at least it is here in the States, but it is likely different in other countries."

"We have plenty of time to discuss it as they don't really need to start learning until they're five years old," Hotch said.

"Yes, that's about the age that me and my siblings started learning," Spencer agreed. "We must make sure that we don't push them too much while they're still so young, as they still have plenty of time to just be kids and have fun."

"Well, I don't see why we can have a tutor over say two or three days a week at first and as they get older we can have them over just on the weekdays and give them the weekends to have fun and not worry about schoolwork," Hotch said.

"And when they are 11 they'll be going to a private school although it'll probably be one closer to Virginia then the Vegas one is."

"What's the closest school, for magical children to Virginia?" asked Hotch.

"You know I don't really know as they are dozens of little ones, scattered all over the United States and only a few big ones that have more than a hundred to two hundred students. The big schools can handle hundreds more kids, but the only full sized school in the USA that I know about is the Salem Institute for Magic that's in Massachusetts, like I mentioned awhile back."

"Well," Hotch said, "that would be a good place for them to go and truly get away from home for the first time."

"I can take a trip down there when they reach 10 and see if I can get them enrolled," Spencer mused. "If they went somewhere like that they would get a first rate education and much better than what you can learn at one of those little schools. Its not that the small schools don't give somebody a good education, but places like that are just better."

"Yes, they have more money from tuitions and therefore, you get a more well rounded education," Hotch said.

"I often wished that I had gone someplace like that as the library at the small school I went to, well, it just wasn't enough for me and I had it read through by the time I was at the end of my third year."

"Most children wouldn't have though," Hotch pointed out. "Most children, if any, can't read as fast as you can and they definitely don't remember every word afterwards. For all the other students I'm sure the library was at least adequate."

"Probably," Spencer agreed. "All I can say is I didn't feel challenged in the entire time I went there."

Spencer yawned suddenly and Hotch kissed him on the forehead and said, gently, "You need to sleep, since you're still tired out from the operation. I'm going to go home and I'll be back to visit you in the morning."

"You have to work in the morning," Spencer said.

"No, I don't as I took a few days off to get you and our children settled into home, so I don't need to be back to work until Monday." Hotch told Spencer who smiled at him gratefully. As it was now Thursday, Hotch now had the next four days to do what he wanted, without having to worry about work.

"Alright," Spencer agreed closing his eyes and just as he drifted off to sleep he felt his mate's fingers stroke through his silky brown hair tenderly and heard a softly spoken I love you before he was lost to dreamland.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"So Addison is it possible to have children right after you have given birth? Is it safe?" asked Spencer as soon as the older man had entered his hospital room.

"Yes, it is possible to have more children right after you've already had some," Addison answered the question posed to him as soon as he had entered his former protégé's hospital room.

Addison was startled at the question, but he supposed he shouldn't have been, because he would certainly want to have more children before he lost all that baby weight only to regain it the next time he got pregnant, so thinking about it like that it was definitely understandable.

"A lot of women get pregnant on accident right after they've already had a baby and in that case the baby usually ends up anywhere from 10 to 14 months younger. Technically it is possible to get pregnant 30 days after you've already had a baby and also you do tend to be super fertile right after a pregnancy, so it is extremely likely. Of course, you have to wait for the postpartum bleeding to stop because you can't get pregnant until it does as that is the indication that your womb has healed from the birth. I'm assuming that you're asking me this question because you are seriously considering having more while you still have all that baby weight."

"Yes," Spencer answered immediately and completely honestly. "With all this extra baby weight I won't have to gain as much to make sure the babies are healthy."

"What we wanted to know was if it's safe for Spencer to get pregnant again after he's just given birth," asked Hotch repeating his mate's earlier question.

"Normally I would say no, especially since it wasn't a single baby, but six. Now if you'd had just a single baby or even twins then my answer would be different. However, thanks to magic and certain potions Spencer will be back to his old self in much less time, then it would take a muggle to recover. In fact, it will only be a matter of a week, instead of the 6 to 8 weeks that a muggle woman would need to completely recover from giving birth, as I told you earlier. So to circle back to your question, yes, it's safe, because Spencer's pregnancy didn't put as much of a strain on him as it could have, simply because he's a wizard and we have certain ways, to help him recover faster. If you are going to go ahead and get pregnant again, then I guess we won't do that reversal spell, that would make your temporary womb vanish in the space of 24 hours. Just let me know if you want me to cast that spell to remove it and I will."

"Well, now that I know it's safe and that it won't do Spencer any harm, I think we might just go through with it," Hotch mused almost to himself his eyes nearly sparkling with delight at the thought.

"After this time though, I would give yourself a break and not get pregnant again for at least two or three years, since pregnancy does put a strain on the body, even if we have potions, to help you recover from it faster," Addison cautioned.

"Well, then I might decide that whatever I get pregnant with this time is enough and I might not go through it again, even if I had an incredibly easy time of it compared to muggle woman at least from what I've read," Spencer pointed out.

"You did, but you have to remember that you were still carrying over a hundred pounds of extra weight around and that would have been a strain on your body, even if you didn't feel the pain in your back because of the potions you were taking."

"Yes, those potions I was taking didn't stop me from feeling the extra weight I was carrying around even if I didn't feel the pain, not even when one of the babies kicked. I felt the sensation of the kicking, but not the pain normally associated with it," Spencer admitted.

"As I said witches and even wizards now have an incredibly easy time with pregnancy thanks to those potions," Addison said with immense satisfaction.

"So not to change subject deliberately, but when can we take our children home?" asked Hotch.

"Well, I've been by to check on every single one of them and they really are some of the healthiest specimens I've seen in a long time, especially multiples and so many, so I would say probably tomorrow after I check them over one last time and make sure their lungs are properly developed and that they have no problems."

"Shifter babies tend to be healthier than human ones, especially multiples," Hotch told Addison who nodded for he had known this. "There are just some human diseases that we can't get, and also we're not like our canine counterpart as there is same stuff like canine parvovirus that we also can't get, thank goodness. Of course, the reverse is also true and they're still quite a few diseases that we can catch, though most of them are curable or of short duration. In any case, I'm willing to leave the spells in place so you can get pregnant again right away before you lose all that baby weight."

"Well, I suppose that the Dragon Lady, is going to have to stick around for awhile longer," Spencer sighed dramatically.

Hotch snorted and Addison just looked amused, as Cassie had told him exactly what Spencer called her and that the two of them really were very fond of each other in a platonic way, but they had to keep up the act.

"I'll agree to release you at the same time I release your children, if you promise you will take it easy for at least the next few days," Addison said. "I will give you some potions that you need to take and yes, you need to take them. So long as you promise me that you will do as I have instructed I will allow you to go home with your children."

"I'll make sure he obeys your instructions to the letter," Hotch told the older man and Addison nodded, knowing that Aaron Hotchner would do exactly as he had said and made sure his mate took it easy for a few days.

"Okay then, when I first come on shift tomorrow at 9 AM the first thing I will do will be to sign your release form and those for your sextuplets," Addison said.

"Thank you for everything, Addison, you've been a big help and I really appreciate your dedication," Hotch said shaking the healer's hand, "and if you're worried I blame you that we got six pups instead of five, no, I don't, as I should have realized that one could be hiding behind his siblings. All I was really concerned about what Spencer getting through this healthy and whole and since he did that's all that matters to me."

"I understand," Addison said with a nod. "I'm happy to know that you don't blame me as telling how many multiples someone is carrying is still a rather inexact science. We can give you an estimate, but we can't always see a baby or babies behind others so it is very easy for an extra baby to conceal themselves behind their siblings."

"We'll see you tomorrow," Spencer said.

"Alright," Addison agreed with a smile.

"You should go Aaron and sleep in your own bed," Spencer said, as soon as Addison had left.

"I'm afraid I didn't sleep very well last night, not without you there," Hotch admitted with weary grin. "I've gotten too used to not sleeping alone, especially when I'm home, that I just don't sleep very well anymore without you."

"What about when you out-of-town?" asked Spencer curiously seriously, as it had never occurred to him that his mate might suffer from insomnia, at least when he was home and he wasn't there. The two of them were so rarely apart, when Aaron was actually in town, and they never went to bed alone, that it had just never occurred to him that Aaron might suffer from insomnia because he wasn't there as well.

"When I'm out of town it's different as a bed in a hotel room I don't associate with you and me and I seem to be able to sleep just fine. It's only when I'm home and you aren't there that I have trouble, which luckily, doesn't happen very often."

"So you've always had trouble sleeping when I have a late shift at St. Murphy's and you're at home in bed alone?" Spencer questioned.

"I do," Hotch admitted rather sheepishly, "but luckily, as I mentioned it doesn't happen very often, as I'm usually working when you are. A few sleepless nights isn't going to kill me."

"You know I've never had trouble sleeping when you're gone," Spencer mused. "Perhaps, it's because I've known since the beginning that you would be gone a lot."

"Probably," Hotch said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright," Spencer said, as Hotch his kissed cheek.

As soon as his mate had left, Spencer closed his eyes and was asleep a minute later.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"I think IVF would be the perfect explanation, as to where our children come from and I'm amazed I didn't think of it until Addison mentioned it awhile back, when I asked him if it was possible for a man to get pregnant and I've been meaning to bring it up with you, but we keep so busy I haven't had a chance," Spencer said.

The two of them were laying on the couch in the den, which was where many of their discussions took place as neither if them ever talked about private matters in public, where people could overhear them. Both of them were cautious men and also very private so whenever they had something to discuss it usually took place in their home and in the den since anybody else rarely come in there at least while the two of them were in here as it was known that this was where the two of them held serious discussions.

"I thought of it just before we had that discussion in your hospital room after you'd had your operation. I didn't think it was necessary to bring it up with you just then and besides, a hospital room is hardly the place to discuss something so private," Hotch admitted.

"Well, it looks like we both thought of the same thing, even if it was months apart," said Spencer his lips twitching in a repressed smile, "something I freely admit that we should have thought of much sooner and my only excuse is that no one on my family has ever used IVF, we've never had to, so it never occurred to me."

"I hadn't either, but then us Shifters don't usually use something like IVF since we are so fertile, especially the females, at least not until I thought about the possibility until I was in the waiting room worrying about you. Most Shifters have children so easily that they don't even think about IVF at all. I'm not actually sure what made me think about it just then, just that I did," Hotch said.

"Probably your brain was trying to distract you from worrying about me," Spencer suggested with a knowing smile. "We both know how protective you are of me and that's been even more true when I was pregnant, so your rather worried mind likely thought of IVF as a way to distract yourself from worrying if only for a few brief moments. I figure it was probably stewing in the back of your brain and you just weren't conscious of it at that time until then."

"Maybe so," Hotch conceded. "In any case, I'm glad that both of us thought of it as it is the perfect solution so we don't have to use those spells and the only problem I see is there is no paperwork to support what we are going to tell people."

"Those records are private and there no way to access them without a warrant, well unless you are a hacker like Garcia, but then no hackers would be interested in looking up our records, so that means that people like Strauss wouldn't be able to discover that we didn't actually have our children though IVF, as I don't believe that even she would go so far as to break the law. Besides, they would have to know where we had the process done and there are a lot of places that we could have done it and most places like that are very discreet."

"No, she wouldn't try to get the records without a warrant and you're right there are a lot of places just in Virginia and Washington that we could have had the process done. If Strauss ever does find a way to remove me from the BAU or at least force me to transfer to another department she would do legally so she wouldn't lose her own position."

Spencer growled at that and spat, "Strauss can just go fuck herself."

Hotch actually chuckled for it took a lot to get his mate to cuss like that, but he had no trouble doing just that when it came to his boss Strauss, since Spencer hated her with a passion and Hotch couldn't blame his mate for that for Erin Strauss was hardly a likeable women. It went without saying that Strauss had the same feelings of animosity towards his mate as well since the few times they had met could hardly be called amicable. Hotch thought that Strauss had made her dislike of Spencer plain from the beginning without even really getting to know him and his mate had done the same. Hotch knew that a large part of Strauss's dislike was the fact that she hated same-sex couples with much more passion and animosity then most people who were mostly just disgusted at the thought of two men being sexually involved. Also Strauss hated the fact that somebody she considered an enemy or at least competition for her position was so damn happy all the time.

"Believe me, I've often thought the same thing, but I haven't actually voiced it since that would be considered insubordination and give Strauss a legit reason to at least suspend me," Hotch said giving his mate a kiss on the forehead.

"Like she really needs one," Spencer snorted. "I have no idea why she hates you, I don't really care, but she better not even think about taking any action against you, because I know some really nasty spells that I would be happy to use on her and normally I'm not a violent person at all."

"She's a mean, vindictive and mean-spirited woman and though I appreciate this need you feel to protect me, since I would do the same for you, but I can take care of myself," Hotch said softly holding his mate a little tighter. "Besides, she'll never do anything that's against the law, since at best she would lose her own position if caught and at worst end up in prison and Strauss is to intelligent to risk that."

"That doesn't mean that I don't hate her and I've never said that or even thought that about anyone before. I'm not saying that some people haven't annoyed me in the past, but I've never hated them."

"Well, I have to admit that Strauss is easy to hate," Hotch admitted. "In any case, back to what we were discussing before about IVF."

"Well, as I said I think it's the perfect solution and something that I should have thought of immediately, although we both know that didn't happen," Spencer said. "I know we had six this time, but we'll just tell anybody who asked that we had the doctor implanted six embryos and that we didn't believe they would all take and become fetuses since a lot of times only one or two actually turns into babies, so we can claim we were just as surprised when they all did."

"That's good," Hotch said thinking about it. "I can fib with the best of them when it's necessary and really it's kind of a job requirement or at least bluffing is, which is almost the same thing. So how do we explain that they all look so much like both of us?"

"Well," Spencer said thinking about it then said after thinking about it, "what about if I asked Leah to tell everyone that asks that she donated the eggs so our children would look like both you and me? I mean she's the one that most looks like me that's of age."

"You do realize that that would technically make Leah their mother," Hotch said and Spencer nodded.

"I know," Spencer admitted. "However, I know Leah won't mind that particular moniker and she can just tell everyone that she knew we wanted children and this was her contribution and that she gave up all parental rights, as their mother and just decided to be their aunt instead. It might not be true, but it sounds good and Leah will get a kick out of telling people something like that, since she's always been kind of a rebel. I doubt very much that anybody will actually question her about it and all we have to do is give people basic information and after that it's none of their business. Really Leah doesn't have to answer questions if she doesn't want to unless it's some kind of official investigation and I don't see that happening since there won't be even a hint of anything against the law going on."

"Well, so long as Leah agrees to it then it's a very good story that fits like a glove," Hotch said.

"She will," Spencer said, as he knew his sister very well.

"In that case, I believe we have an explanation as to where our children come from that doesn't require you to do those spells we were talking about," Hotch said.

"Which is a good thing not that I wouldn't've done it," Spencer said, "but would've felt guilty about it, even though you know I hate Strauss's guts."

"That just proves that you're good person since you'd feel guilty for using the spells on somebody you hate with good reason," Hotch said.

"I try to be," Spencer admitted.

"You are," Hotch told him being completely honest. "Everyone has their faults, I do, you do, everybody in the world does. However, that doesn't mean that you aren't a good person or that I'm not, just that we have our weak points just like all people do whether they're Normals, Shifters or magical people."

"Well, I'm glad you think I am and that's really all that matters to me," Spencer said.

"I don't think, I know you are," Hotch corrected immediately, "but to change the subject even Strauss won't butt in unless she can find something illegal going on, though she won't," Hotch said calmly, but with a smirk as he thought about Strauss future frustration. He admitted if only privately in his thoughts, that he rather enjoyed seeing Strauss angry or frustrated where he and the team were concerned and thought it was nothing more than she deserved for being such a bitch.

"Good, the less I see of her the better I like it," Spencer almost growled, sounding almost like a wolf himself.

"I can't blame you for that one bit, since she's not a very likable woman," Hotch chuckled kissing the side of his mate's neck, which made Spencer move his head to the side a little to give Aaron better access to that area of his body.

"I'll talk to Leah first chance I get," Spencer promised changing the subject wanting to forget about Strauss entirely.

"Good," Hotch replied.

The two them fell silent and just lay there for awhile enjoying just holding each other and also making out quite heavily, now that they're serious discussion with out of the way.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"So if anybody asks why my nieces and nephews look so much like you, you want to tell them that it was my eggs that were used?" asked Leah.

Spencer had contacted his sister and asked if she could come over as he had something that he wanted to talk to her about and Leah had agreed. His sister had arrived within a few minutes and the two of them had gone to the den where Spencer had already sat up snacks and drinks including Leah's favorite, the muggle drink Pepsi.

"That is if you don't mind, as it is of course, your choice," Spencer said. "Aaron and I came up with the idea of telling everyone that we used IVF to have children, which is better than what we were planning to do to people like Strauss, which is Aaron's boss."

"You were planning on using some sort of spell on them," Leah said and Spencer nodded.

"I was, but I prefer the explanation that we used IVF instead of using magic no matter how much I dislike people like Erin Strauss," Spencer said making a face as he thought about his mate's boss.

"It's not like you too outright dislike someone," Leah commented and Spencer made another face.

"Yes, well, she made herself my enemy, from the first time I met her," Spencer explained. "She hates and detests Aaron with a passion and I'm not really sure why that is, except that Aaron believes it is because she thinks that he's after her position, which is section chief instead of unit chief, which is just a little bit above Aaron, but it means that Strauss is his ultimate boss. Strauss just loves the power and so hates Aaron just because she fears he is after her position, but just because that is what Strauss thinks doesn't make it true, as Aaron told me once that he wouldn't take the job even if you paid him triple because it means sitting behind a desk, dealing with the bureaucrats, playing politics and doing paperwork."

"That would probably kill Uncle Aaron," Leah admitted.

"Exactly," Spencer agreed. "He told me that he deals with enough paperwork, just in his position of unit chief and that he doesn't want to have to do anymore, especially if it means not being able to get out into the field. So what you think of Aaron's and my idea?"

"I think it's a good one," Leah said slowly thinking about it. "I suppose you have to have some explanation, as to where they came from since Uncle Aaron does work for the government."

"We do," Spencer said, "especially if we're planning on having more. Now if Aaron didn't work for the government it wouldn't be a problem, but since he does we need some sort of logical explanation as to where they come from, since we can't exactly reveal that I carried them myself since I am not female."

"Isn't that the truth," Leah said chuckling as she imagined a scenario where that happened. "So why do you and Uncle Aaron hate this Erin Strauss so much?"

"Well," Spencer began and then told her how Strauss was a power hungry, mean-spirited, nasty woman and how many underhanded things she had tried to do to the team over the years.

"You're right she does sound downright nasty," Leah admitted.

"She is, trust me," Spencer assured his sister. "Strauss has never been a field agent and she tried to tell Aaron that he made the wrong decision back during a case that involved a couple of college kids and one got caught in the crossfire. One of those college kids was a pyromaniac and the other one just an innocent bystander that was in the wrong place at the wrong time and yet she ripped him over it, even though in the field you have to make split second decisions which can change in an instant. As I said she is a first-class bitch and has ripped into the team on several different occasions, Aaron in particular, so is it a wonder I don't like her very much?"

"You're right, she does sound like a thoroughly nasty woman," Leah admitted, "and I don't blame you for not liking or even hating her since from what you've told me she certainly won't win any Miss Congeniality awards."

Spencer actually snorted in derision at that causing Leah to stare at her brother in surprise. "So will you do it?" asked Spencer changing the subject back to what they had originally been discussing.

"Of course," Leah agreed immediately. "You realize that this will technically make me their mother?"

"Well, Aaron and I seriously doubt that you'll ever be questioned about it, but we wanted to get your consent before we told anybody this story we have come up with," Spencer explained, "and yes, we're very well aware that you will technically be their mother, but we were going to say that you signed over parental rights to us and that you prefer to be their aunt instead."

"Ah, that's really smart," Leah complimented her brother.

"Thank you, Aaron and I spent quite a bit of time getting our stories straight to make sure there were no suspicious gaps. Luckily, both of us are decent liars when we need to be, although Aaron's much better at it than I am," Spencer said blushing at the compliment.

"He's probably had more practice," Leah delicately suggested and Spencer nodded.

"Yes, he does have to bluff a lot in his job, and sometimes he's had to lie outright, so it's a skill that he's had to acquire," Spencer admitted. "Thank you for agreeing to do this, I really appreciate it and Aaron does to."

"You're more than welcome, big brother," Leah told him with a smile kissing her brother on the cheek. "I don't mind in the least, especially since it's for such a worthy cause, you know?"

"I'm glad you think so," Spencer said. "I feel guilty about lying, but we can't exactly tell other people the truth not unless it's another witch or wizard, of course. One of the reasons Aaron and I believe this will work is because nobody is going to be able to find records for us supposedly using IVF not without a warrant anyway and in order to get a warrant they would have to have just cause and as much as Strauss hates Aaron even she wouldn't go that far because she might very well lose her position or even end up in jail and she is far to intelligent to do something rash and would rather fire Aaron for some kind of legal reason."

"You're such a nice and naturally honest person of course, you feel guilty for lying," Leah told her brother, "but that doesn't mean it isn't necessary in this case."

"I know," Spencer said softly, "believe me, I'm well aware how necessary it is and it's certainly better than having to use those spells that I thought I was going to have to use, so I can live with a little guilt."

Both brother and sister continued to chat for awhile, before Spencer took his leave so he could head home to help cook dinner for his family.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Six months later

"How are you feeling?" Hotch asked his mate.

The two of them had made love when Addison had told them that they could, and it was merely 3 weeks after the birth of their sextuplets. The two of them had not abstained completely from lovemaking, but there had been more heavy petting then anything else and no actual penetration had taken place at least on Hotch's part. Hotch had been more than happy to accommodate his mate and allow him to be on top and for him to do the penetration of his cock into his hole. For the most part Hotch was always on top because as an alpha male, it was just a natural position for him, however, there had been quite a few occasions over the last three and a half years where he had allowed his mate to do the penetrating. However, once Addison had given them the go-ahead a mere three weeks after their pups births Hotch had been ecstatic and Spencer had been just as happy.

Their lovemaking session after that had been one of the best they had ever had and had lasted for hours because the two of them were so happy that they had been told that they could try to get pregnant again. Hotch remembered how the wolf in his chest had howled in satisfaction as he pushed his cock into Spencer's anus for the first time in three weeks. Yes, Spencer's vagina had disappeared, soon after the birth of their pups, and Hotch mourned its disappearance for he had really enjoyed some of the lovemaking session they'd had while Spencer had been in the latter stages of pregnancy for the vagina had appeared magically about eight weeks before he was supposed to give birth, even if he'd only had a chance to enjoy it for very short amount of time before it disappeared and Spencer's regular bits came back. Spencer had caught immediately, so by the time they were done making love and had gotten some sleep, his mate was indeed pregnant again and the reason they knew this was they'd had Addison come over about a week later after his shift just to make sure. The two of them had celebrated, by making love again, this time more slowly and tenderly then rough and frantically like their first time after three weeks apart.

"I'm fine," Reid assured his mate with a smile kissing him on the lips. "I think my employers at St. Murphy's are glad that this is the last time I am going to be pregnant for awhile though, because I'm going to have to take off, in just another two months and go on maternity leave, as that will be pretty close to my scheduled c-section five weeks before the end of the third trimester, just like last time."

"Are you sure that you can't take maternity leave a little sooner?" asked Hotch. "I mean I just don't want you to overdo, because even though you can't feel the pain are you still carrying a great deal of extra weight around."

"Well, at least I didn't have to gain as much this time since I didn't bother to try to lose that pregnancy weight," Spencer said, "so I've only gained maybe 30 pounds this time."

"Well, since Addison's assures us that it is only quads this time that seems about right," Hotch said knowing that the change of subject was Spencer's way of saying that his taking maternity leave earlier was closed, and that this was his mate's way of avoiding an argument.

"I love you, Aaron," Spencer announced suddenly.

"I love you too," Hotch assured his mate tenderly taking his very pregnant lover into his arms and holding him close. Hotch knew without having to be told that this sudden declaration was the result of pregnancy hormones, and so he just held his mate tight, gently running a hand, through his hair as Spencer released a flood of tears.

Hotch whispered loving words into his mate's ear as the younger man cried, but finally the tears dried and Spencer cuddled into Hotch's side and without a word fell asleep.

Hotch for his part simply held his mate lovingly, knowing that younger man probably needed to sleep considering he was over five months pregnant. Hotch studied his mate who looked at least five years younger when he was sleeping and before he knew if he had closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep himself.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	8. Chapter 8

Garcia knocked on Hotch's office door and was told to enter.

Hotch looked surprised that it was Garcia, entering his office instead of JJ or Rossi.

"What can I do for you, Garcia?" asked Hotch curiously.

"Well, I kind of need some advice," Garcia began a little nervously as soon as she had closed the office door behind her.

"About what?" asked Hotch seriously.

"Well, you see, this is kind of a Shifter problem and you're the only other one on the team, really the only one I'm close enough to ask about something so personal," Garcia said.

"Take a seat," Hotch offered.

Garcia did so and once she was comfortable she continued what she had been saying previously. "As you know I'm a lioness Shifter and the minute I walked into the BAU..."

"Your mate is a member of the team," Hotch said suddenly knowing that he was right, as it was the only explanation as to why Garcia had come to him. "Let's see, JJ doesn't make any sense in this case, as she likely wouldn't have rejected you if you had told her and Rossi is way too old, although it could still be him, it just isn't likely, so it must be Morgan."

Garcia nodded not saying anything for a moment. "I can see why you need advice," Hotch admitted. "I'm not sure that Morgan will ever be ready to settle down and you're right I'm the only one on the team that understands what that means."

"I've tried my best to give him signals," Garcia whispered looking heartbroken, "I've flirted with him and I was hoping he would get the message, but either he has deliberately ignored all the signals I'm giving out or he really hasn't picked up on them, which I consider extremely unlikely. I'm at the end of my rope, as it's been almost 2 years and I'm not sure how much longer I can hold onto hope. I'm either going to have to resign myself to being alone, or I'm going to have to somehow convince him that we were meant for each other and I of all people know how stubborn he is. If he wants to dig in his heels and resist, then I don't know what I can do other then box his ears."

"I sympathize, I do," Hotch told Garcia feeling truly sympathetic, as he knew very well that Shifter true mating gene must be screaming at her to just take him. "I know I was lucky that Spencer was so accepting and I realize that that doesn't happen all the time unless the other person is also a Shifter. My advice to you is get him somewhere private like your apartment and explain it to him. Explain exactly what the consequences are if he doesn't at least give what is between you a chance. The bond never would've formed with him if you weren't perfect for each other and the way you flirt and carry-on even on phone tells me that you would be very good together."

"Is there anyway that you and Spencer could be there or can we come over to your place?" Garcia asked. "Morgan will listen to you, if he starts to just walk away or tries deny it."

"I wouldn't be his boss there," Hotch pointed out.

"No, but you do have a way of getting people to sit up and pay attention and actually listen," Garcia said. "Morgan is more likely to listen to you anyway then to me, which is why I want you present along with Spencer of course. All I want from you for you be prepared to step in and try to make Morgan see reason, if it looks like he's going to be stupid and just walk away or digs his heels in and refuses to accept it."

"Alright," Hotch finally decided. "I'll help you because I can certainly understand what you're going through. How you have lasted for nearly two years without telling him is beyond me, because I had trouble waiting the 2 1/2 weeks before Spencer and I made a commitment to each other, but then again I told him immediately while you haven't told Morgan, although I do understand your reasoning. I'm assuming that you wanted to get to know him a little first, which I can certainly understand and we both know that he never would have accepted it back then when you first met."

"Which is the main reason I didn't say anything as I caught on to that particular idiosyncrasy immediately," Garcia admitted. "I know he lost his father when he was 12, which I know was bound to have affected him and is probably why he has so much trouble forming a permanent romantic attachment, as he is so afraid of losing someone he cares for that he plays the field instead. Why the fates or the gods or whatever chose him as my mate I don't know, but I do know that I didn't have any choice in the matter."

"Are you sure you're not a profiler?" Hotch asked with a small smile thinking that she sure did have Morgan's number. Morgan was so afraid of commitment that he was sabotaging his relationships and whether it was done subconsciously or consciously Hotch didn't know. It was possible that all Morgan needed was a serious talking to, before he came around. Of course, with his luck it would probably take a lot more than that to get Morgan to see how much he was hurting his friend.

"Well, I do hang around with a bunch of profilers, so I was bound to pick up some of your tricks," Garcia joked sounding more like her normal cheerful self, which Hotch was happy to see happen.

"Why don't you come to dinner?" asked Hotch with a shrewd expression. "I'll invite Morgan myself. What I want from you is you to keep quiet that you're going to be there as he might decide not to come if he knows it's going to be four of us. I'll just invite him over to dinner and to spend some time with his godson and goddaughter. He'll never turn down a chance at a free homecooked meal, or to spend time with his two godchildren."

"Oh, that's very devious, sir," Garcia said admiringly.

"Thank you," Hotch said with a smirk.

"So to change the subject, how's Spencer doing?" asked Garcia.

Spencer was once again pregnant and he had been since about three weeks after his and Hotch's first six children were born. He was now just over five months and a week pregnant and he was carrying quadruplets just like they had believed the first time, although this time it was all boys, at least from what Addison could tell.

Spencer had been rather more surprised at this then Hotch had been until Addison had explained that having all of one sex, especially with so many was rather unusual and also that girl multiples were more common then boys.

"He's fine and is really enjoying being pregnant again," Hotch admitted with a weary grin. "Of course, he wouldn't be saying that if it wasn't for the potions he takes either three times a day for one or twice a day for the other, but thanks to those potions he's having very little trouble other than having to pee so much. He told me that his bladder feels like it's the size of a walnut as he seems to have to go every five minutes."

Garcia giggled at that. "I can certainly understand why both decided to have more right away," Garcia admitted. "In Spencer's case he wouldn't want to go to the trouble of losing all that baby weight only to have to regain it when you decided to have more."

"And as for me I truly do love children and we now have plenty of help to look after them, so I really don't mind having six children and soon four more."

"I bet you enjoyed the process of getting Spencer pregnant," Garcia giggled not believing that she was being so bold since Hotch was her boss.

"Oh, believe me, I did," Hotch said with a wide grin his canine teeth from his Shifter form showing, which made him look extremely dangerous and also lascivious at the same time. "It wasn't all that hard to tell you the truth, because apparently most women are extremely fertile right after they give birth and the same concept applies to the men that have decided to go through the process of having children, so Spencer caught the first time we made love right after he was healed from his operation and Addison gave us the go ahead. Thanks to magic and the several potions he had to take he was healed in a week instead of it taking six to eight like it would for a regular woman."

"Yes, I know magic can do many things that medical science in the muggle world cannot, but the opposite is also true," Garcia said glad to hear that her baby was doing so well, especially since she hadn't seen him in a couple weeks. "I'm looking forward to seeing him, as I'm sure his stomach has grown, since I last saw him a couple of weeks ago."

"Oh, yes, it has grown a lot," Hotch chuckled. "I hate being gone so much, now that he's pregnant again, but we know I can't take the time off without having to explain why. On the other hand, I really enjoy seeing how much his stomach has grown while I've been gone, as it seems to change every hour even if I know that's partly just a matter of perception."

"I hope I'm not being too nosy, but are you planning to have anymore after this?" asked Garcia.

"We haven't decided," Hotch admitted. "If we do decide to have more it won't be right away, but a few years down the road."

"So have you thought about how you're going to explain having children that looks so much like you and Spencer both. I mean I know there're only a few months old, but they look more like you and Spencer everyday."

"IVF," Hotch said simply and Garcia nodded. "Spencer and I discussed this sometime ago, and we decided that if anybody gets curious as why we have children that we tell them we simply went through the IVF process. Spencer came up with the idea to say that one of his sisters donated some of her eggs and that's why they look so much like him as well as me. If anybody asks any questions after that it's none of their business, as a logical explanation is all anybody should need. Thanks to Spencer coming up with that idea, we now don't have to do that spell on anyone even if using his sister's eggs seems a bit strange."

"It's logical though and is not illegal so long as they are of legal age and gave their consent," Garcia pointed out, "as after all you do want any children you have to look like both of you. How are you explaining, especially since they're not identical one woman agreeing to carry that many?"

"Well, as you know two of them look almost exactly alike except for their eye color, so all we have to do is use magic to change the eye color of one of them to the other and you won't be able to tell the difference, well not unless you observe them closely and notice that one is right handed and the other left, and even that can be explained. As for the other four, if anybody is nosy enough to ask we'll just say that we paid the woman a great deal of money out of Spencer's trust fund to carry them for us and to also give them up afterwards and that we never expected for all six embryos to catch as a lot of times one or two embryos catch and the other's don't, which is why we had the doctor implant so many."

"Yes, that makes sense and nobody should ask you any questions after that and if they do you tell them that it's not any of their business."

"Oh, I will, if they get too nosy," Hotch promised with a ferocious grin, "because just like you said it is none of their business once they have a logical explanation where our children come from and Leah has agreed to say that it was her eggs that were used, as she's the only female that is related to Spencer that looks the most like him with his brown hair and golden brown eyes, that is of age."

"You do know that that will make Leah their mother, or at least that's what people will think," Garcia said.

"That's their problem," Hotch said with a shrug not caring. "Neither Spencer or I plan on making a big deal out of where our children come from and we'll only give a few facts and as for the rest... well, people will make it up, but as I said that's their problem. The only thing that Spencer and I intend to do is to live as quietly as possible and what we do, privately is nobodies business. If Spencer and I want to have thirty pups again that's our business, so long as we can afford to take care of them nobody has a right to interfere in our private life."

"Oh, I agree absolutely, but that doesn't mean people won't butt in when they find out how your children came to be, even if it's a made up story to throw people off the trail of how they really were conceived. So how are your and Spencer's new nannies working out?"

The nannies that Garcia was talking about were three women, a grandmother and her two granddaughters, who had been desperately looking for work as apparently a great tragedy had struck the family. The grandmother's daughter, along with her husband of forty years and the girls, brother had died in a car crash. Unfortunately, they'd had no insurance as magical folks just didn't really have such a thing and the grandfather and daughter were the only sources of income for the family. The family had had a little bit saved, but that had quickly dwindled, and if they hadn't found this job all three of them would've been out on the street. Spencer had taken one look at the three of them and had ushered them inside immediately, gotten them drinks and ordered them to sit down for they had looked incredibly weary and at the end of their ropes. Hotch, who hadn't been out-of-town on a case for once had listened as the grandmother who's name was Amelia had explained about the accident and how they desperately needed job and that seeing that ad in the Washington Post appeared a godsend.

Amelia's two granddaughters Harmony and Haven were seven and nine, respectively had no other family as their father had been killed several years ago.

Both Spencer and Hotch had asked Amelia questions, but they had also already made up their minds considering that she was raising her two granddaughters by herself and had already raised a daughter.

Once their questions were answered Amelia was hired on the spot along with her two granddaughters and once the interview was over Spencer had immediately led the three of them to the top floor and showed the three of them the several rooms that was used for nannies that was part of the nursery itself. Amelia had protested, saying that one room for all three of them would do, but Spencer had told her that there was more than enough room in this house for each of them to have their own room and Spencer had told her that the rooms within the nursery were meant for the children's nannies and that was the way the house had been designed and built. Hotch had then informed her that the six rooms within the nursery, which were clustered around a sitting room with a fireplace with a bathroom in the middle were theirs to decorate how they wanted them.

Amelia had then immediately burst into tears of relief and her two granddaughters had clung to their grandmother obviously relieved that they weren't going to have to live on the street.

"They're working out just fine and Amelia has been a godsend and she is training her granddaughters and how to look after children as well," Hotch told Garcia.

"So are they going to go to a magical school once they are old enough?" Garcia asked Hotch curiously.

"Spencer offered to send them, and refused to take it out of Amelia's wages, however, Harmony's and Haven's grandmother refused and said that they would be homeschooled, and that it had been that way in her family for generations, mostly because they never had the money for school fees or the equipment required. All of their belongings were shrunk down, including two old wands that had belonged to their mother and father and those were what Amelia was going to use to teach her granddaughters magic, but Spencer insisted on buying them wands of their own and reminded her of the old adage 'The wand chooses the wizard or witch' and that a wand that had belonged to someone else wouldn't work half as well as one that had picked them. As you know Spencer can be very stubborn so eventually Amelia gave in."

"I'm so glad things are working out," Garcia said, "as I didn't see how you or Spencer could take care of so many babies at one time even with magic, especially with both your jobs."

"You really need to talk to Amelia when you come over for dinner and you'll see that despite all the tragedy that has surrounded her family she really has a heart of gold," Hotch said with a smile as he thought about his and Spencer's recently acquired nannies, "and her granddaughters are loosing their shyness and their half starved look that they came to us with. Spencer made sure to give them an advance and told them that they can eat as much food as they want and that they weren't to stint themselves, as Harmony and Haven are still growing and they need proper nutrition to grow big and strong."

"I will," Garcia promised.

"Why don't you come over for dinner on Saturday unless we catch a case before then of course, and I'll invite Morgan before he leaves for the day."

"Alright," Garcia agreed. "Let me thank you in advance for agreeing to help me with my problem."

"You're welcome, and I'm glad you came to me since you're right we're both Shifters and so we understand exactly what the problem is and while others believe they do, they don't really, not unless they're Shifters themselves."

"If anybody can get Morgan to understand and at least consider what we have told him that will be you, sir," Garcia said truthfully.

"I hope we can get it through his rather stubborn head, that he needs to stop avoiding serious romantic attachments and to at least give a relationship with you a try, because I would hate to lose the best technical analyst I've ever known because Morgan's being stubborn," Hotch said.

"Well, if you can't get him to see what an ass he's being then nobody can," Garcia said, "but I hate to say that you're right that I will be leaving if we can't get Morgan to see sense because I can't keep seeing him every day as it's driving me crazy."

Hotch nodded, as he certainly sympathized with Garcia's predicament.

The two chatted for a few more minutes but then Garcia exited the office and ignored the curious looks that the rest of the team were shooting her and headed back to her office.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Welcome!" Spencer greeted Morgan.

"Thanks for inviting me for dinner and to spend some time with my godchildren," Morgan answered giving Spencer a hug carefully because of his rather protruding belly.

"You're more than welcome," Spencer told his friend leave him further into the house. "It's my job to make sure that you spend as much time with your godchildren as possible. Besides, I enjoy seeing you occasionally and not just talking to you on the phone."

Morgan nodded more than happy to go along with Spencer's plan for him to spend as much time with his godchildren as possible, since he adored them and that he got a free and excellent meal out of the deal was just icing on the cake.

"So where are Isadora and Sheridan?" asked Morgan.

"They're upstairs with Amelia and her helpers," Spencer answered with a gesture towards the stairs

"So how are your nannies working out?" asked Morgan.

"They've been a godsend," Spencer said fervently. "They've only been with us for four months, but now I don't know how Aaron and I managed without them. Amelia in particular seems tireless and is always checking on them and getting up whenever they cry. She's so sweet with them and always knows just what to do, whether it's feeding them, changing them or burping them."

"I hope you're paying her, well," Morgan said and Spencer simply smirked at his friend neither confirming or denying, Morgan's statement, but the black man got the distinct impression that Spencer was paying more than other people would, so that Amelia and her granddaughters wouldn't go anywhere else.

"Take a seat, dinner will be ready in a few minutes," Spencer told his friend.

Suddenly the doorbell rang again and Spencer immediately left his guest to answer it and returned a minute later with Garcia in tow.

"Baby girl? What are you doing here?" asked Morgan.

"I was invited to dinner and I couldn't turn down a chance to see my goddaughter," Garcia answered, although that wasn't completely truthful, but the whole truth could wait until after dinner.

Morgan looked back-and-forth between Garcia and Spencer and both ignored his suspicious looks, as Spencer accepted a hug from his honorary aunt.

Before Morgan had a chance to ask any questions Hotch appeared in the living room with excellent timing that any tactician would be proud of, carrying two children in his arms a girl and a boy.

"Look who came for a visit," Hotch told his two children who looked so much like him. It was obvious to everyone that these two children would have been identical if it wasn't for the fact that they were different sexes, for they had Hotch's black hair, the beginning shape of his nose, the shape of his lips and cheekbones, but with Spencer's golden brown eyes, which had changed from blue after a few months. It was way to early to tell what body type they would be, if they would have Spencer's slender form or his bulkier one and it could very well be a combination of both.

"Der, Der," both children squealed excitedly reaching out their pudgy little arms for the big black man.

Morgan was immediately on his feet taking his godchildren from Hotch's arms.

"Well, you've certainly grown a lot since last time I saw you," Morgan announced tickling each of them under their chins, causing the two of them to giggle delightedly.

Anybody else in the room watched this with a smile and although they didn't know it they were thinking the same thing and that was Morgan would make an excellent father… someday, if he ever decided to settle down and stop playing the field.

"Hey where's my gorgeous goddaughter? Where is my Tabby Cat?" Garcia asked pouting. Spencer's and Hotch's daughter's actual name was Tabitha Caitlyn and Garcia, of course, had had to give her a nickname and Hotch had to admit that it fit.

"I'll go get her," Spencer offered rising in from his chair.

"I'll go," Hotch told his mate his tone brooking no argument. "I don't want to climbing down the stairs with one of the children until you're not pregnant anymore, since you're balance is still off. Yes, I know the stairs will turn into a slide if you start to fall, but why take chances? You have four little lives that you need to protect until they are ready to be born."

Spencer nodded not looking in the least upset and Morgan took this to mean that this was not a first time occurrence where Hotch had given his mate some kind of order and where Spencer had obeyed immediately not even putting up a token protest. It was well possible that Reid knew that Hotch would eventually get his way and so just gave in to avoid an argument or it was also possible that Reid knew the futility of arguing with Hotch when he used that tone and so didn't bother.

Morgan had been watching this scene while playing with his two godchildren, and even though he would probably never admit it he thought that his baby girl was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Something within him wanted nothing more than to acknowledge his growing feelings for her, but he buried them as deeply as he could, too afraid to do anything about them. Morgan had been surprised when Garcia had revealed her secret, the fact that she was a witch and could do actual magic, but it seemed to somehow fit her rather quirky personality and that this revealing had come right after Spencer told them all that he could do the same thing, was by no means a coincidence. Morgan had been disbelieving at first but then so had JJ, but it had been proved to both of them that magic was indeed a real force in the world, as Spencer had done a couple of simple charms right afterwards that took very little power to prove what he was saying.

He had since learned that there were more complicated spells, ones that drained a person more and that Spencer had been trying to take it easy because he was pregnant and even though the potions he was taking helped with the pain that carrying so much extra weight around caused he was still tireder than he normally, was, as even magic could only do so much.

Morgan had been astonished, when Spencer had gotten pregnant again right away and he had explained that he hadn't wanted to go to all the trouble of losing all the extra weight, only to have to regain it the next time he got pregnant and Morgan could certainly understand that point of view. Morgan had also learned that the spells that allowed Spencer to get pregnant, even though he was a man could be reversed and that they would be once these four were actually born in a few more months. Morgan was still amazed at the magic he had seen since he had learned of it, and he knew that JJ and even Hotch felt the same. True his boss actually lived with a wizard and had seen magic performed on a regular basis for the last few years, but that didn't mean that it still didn't have the power astonish him, because normally Aaron Hotchner was a practical guy and would never have believed that such a force existed, a force that could do many wonderful and strange things, but since Spencer was his mate, he had come to accept it, even if it still startled and amazed him occasionally. Morgan knew that Spencer was only 25 years old and yet he was about to have ten children, as he already had six, but he had to acknowledge that Spencer Reid was one of the most intelligent, mature, compassionate, caring individuals he had ever had the pleasure to meet, so he knew that if anybody could take care of 10 small children it was him and besides, he had plenty of help in that task, so it wasn't like he was struggling to look after them all by himself. He knew that his friend would never have taken this step, if he wasn't ready to have children of his own, and Spencer had told him that he had been willing to consider adoption until his mentor and friend Addison had told him about this option, which he had immediately jumped on researching it for himself.

Morgan knew that his boss was very protective of his mate, not only because Hotch loved Spencer Reid so much that he was willing to step in front of a bullet for him, but also because he would be very unhappy if anything what happened to the younger man and so Morgan knew that Hotch never would have allowed the man he loved to go through with this little experiment if he hadn't been reasonably sure it was risk free, well as risk free as any pregnancy was, since things could and did go wrong sometimes.

When Morgan had questioned them about having so many children when he was only 24 Spencer had told him, that it was quite common in the wizarding world for a magical person to marry right after they finished at boarding school, and to have a child less than a year later.

Morgan tried to imagine someone marrying at just 17 or 18 years old and already having a child by the time they were 19, and he just couldn't imagine getting married and having a child that young. Spencer had also revealed that by the time some witches or wizards were around his age they already had at least three children and Morgan had trouble imagining that either.

Spencer had explained that it was quite common to meet someone and fall in love while you were going to boarding school most of which were coed, and therefore, get married as soon as you had graduated. Not all wizarding folks, got married right after school, but a large percentage of them did and most of them had no more than two to three children, but other families, mostly the ones that came from old money had anywhere between 8 to 10 children. He then told Morgan that the Potters fell into that category, although they were hardly pureblooded anymore, but just because his ancestors had married muggles or Shifters or other witches and wizards, that didn't have at least four generations of magic users on either side of their family, didn't mean that they weren't still ultrawealthy.

Hotch returned with a child in his arms, and Morgan silently acknowledged that the little girl that his boss carried so gently and tenderly was going to be a heartbreaker once she was older. The beautiful little girl who's name was Tabitha Caitlyn, had Spencer's dark brown hair, except straight like Hotch's, but she had Reid's nose, the slant of his eyes, although their color was all Hotch's, Reid lips and elegant cheekbones, but the chin was again his teammate's as it had the same stubborn tilt as well as the dimple that appeared when Hotch smiled. Really all in all Tabitha Caitlyn was the perfect combination of both her parents no matter how unconventional her and her siblings birth really was.

"There's my Tabby Cat," Garcia cooed rising from the comfortable chair she had been sitting in.

Hotch handed over his daughter with a grin, knowing that Penelope Garcia absolutely adored children, as had been obvious for sometime, since she spoiled her goddaughter and his and Spencer's other children rotten, always bringing them little treats or gifts. Really she had kind of adopted all the children, including Harmony and Haven and loved them all equally, even though Tabitha was her goddaughter. All the children adored her and always looked forward to her frequent visits, which he often heard about after the fact, since he was often gone.

"Pen! Pen!" Tabitha squealed happily hyperexcited to be in the arms of one of the people she loved most in the world.

"Yes, sweetling it's your Aunt Penny," Garcia cooed lovingly as she kissed her goddaughter on the forehead.

The four friends chatted for a few minutes, but then the timer on the oven buzzed and Hotch immediately got up and headed into the kitchen to get his lasagna out of the oven.

"Let's start heading to the table," Spencer said, "Dinner is just about ready."

"Good! I'm starved!" exclaimed Morgan causing both Garcia and Spencer of chuckle

"I'm starved to, but I at least have a good excuse," Spencer said patting his belly lovingly. "Morgan, on the other hand, is just a chowhound."

"Am not!" Morgan protested. "I just have a good appetite is all."

"I've seen how much you eat," Garcia told Morgan her tone teasing, "So I agree with Spencer you are a chowhound."

"I'm just a big man and it just takes a lot fill me up," Morgan protested.

They all fell silent as they entered the kitchen each carrying a baby in their arms. When they finally arrived they found that three highchairs had been set up on one side of the table. The highchairs were beautiful things made of wood, instead of plastic and metal that had been completely restored, although they still showed their age.

"Dinner is served," Hotch said placing the pan of lasagna on the table in the center, all the sides that had been cooked already there under warming or cooling charms.

"This looks absolutely delicious, Hotch," Garcia complimented him.

"Thank you, Spencer helped and it's his recipe," Hotch said.

"My mother's recipe actually," Spencer corrected, as he sat down beside his mate after putting his son in one of the highchairs, with Garcia and Morgan doing the same. "My mother was one of the best cooks I know," Spencer said with a nostalgic smile.

Morgan filled his plate and sat back down with everybody getting their share of the piping hot food.

"Your mother was a great cook," Garcia said after she had taken a bite of the cheese lasagna.

"Thank you, she taught me and any of my siblings that were interested in learning how to fix meals for a lot of people at once or just for one or two. I admit that when Aaron and I are eating alone we usually fix more then we can eat, but then we simply freeze what remains or use a preserving spell on whatever is left so that there are readymade meals when neither one of us feels like cooking."

The four friends enjoyed their meals until over an hour later even Morgan sat back patting his stomach."

"Well, it looks like we managed to fill up the bottomless pit," Spencer teased his friend.

"What can I say it was good lasagna, although not as good as my mama makes, but close," Morgan said.

"So you want dessert now? Or later once we've had a chance to digest?" asked Hotch.

"Later," Garcia said immediately and Morgan nodded in agreement.

"I'm stuffed, there's no way I could eat dessert right this minute," Morgan said, patting his very full stomach.

"I'm not surprised considering you had three large helpings," Garcia told him teasingly.

"Hey, I never would've eaten so much if it hadn't been so good," Morgan defended himself. "It's not often that I get a homecooked meal, except when I go home to Chicago to visit my mother and sisters, so is it so surprising I took advantage of it?"

"No, I suppose not," Garcia admitted, "as I know that you and the rest of the team do eat out a lot since you're out of town so much."

"Eat out as much as the team does and you'll be grateful for homecooked meal," Hotch said.

"That's the absolute truth," Morgan said agreeing wholeheartedly with his boss's statement. "I mean the team practically lives on fast food or on food from somewhere like Denny's and while that's a good cooking it's not as good as a nice homecooked meal and definitely not as healthy. Besides, I never would have eaten so much if it wasn't good, so you should take it as a sort of compliment."

"Oh, I do as I know what food gourmet you are, Morgan," Spencer teased his friend with a smile.

Morgan didn't respond verbally to that statement simply sat back and patted his very full belly again.

"Alright then, we'll have dessert in a little while once we've all had a little time to digest," Hotch said. "Don't worry about cleaning up Spencer and I will do that later."

"Let me help you take the children upstairs as they look like they're ready for bed," Garcia offered.

"Thank you, Penelope," Hotch said immediately accepting her offer standing up and unbuckling one of the children from their highchair, while Spencer freed the second and Garcia the third.

Hotch and Garcia immediately walked out of the room, with Garcia carrying her goddaughter who was almost sleeping in her arms.

"Let's go back to the living room," Spencer told Morgan. "Aaron and Penelope will only be a few minutes as they'll hand the three children over to Amelia and her daughters so they can be put to bed."

Morgan nodded and the two friends headed to the living room to await the two that were missing.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"So are you tell me the real reason you invited me for dinner?" asked Morgan.

"What do you mean?" asked Spencer playing innocent.

"Come on, I'm not stupid," Morgan told the other three. "First you invite to spend some time with my godchildren out of the blue and while I appreciate a good meal and time with Isadora and Sheridan, the fact that Garcia also happens to be invited tells me that this was more than a simple dinner and time with my godchildren."

"You're right," Garcia said softly after steeling her nerves. "I asked Hotch for this favor and that was to help me out with the problem I've been having."

"What's the problem?" asked Morgan trying to figure out why he had been invited if it was Garcia who was having a problem.

Garcia sighed loudly them muttered just loudly enough for everybody to hear, "For such a smart man you sure are acting rather dense."

"Why am I acting dense?" Morgan asked not sure whether to take offense at what his friend had just said.

"Think for a moment," Garcia told Morgan. "Why do you think you were invited, since it is my problem that I asked Hotch to help me with?"

"I…" Morgan began thinking rapidly the answer suddenly hitting him like a bullet in the gut. "I'm the problem?"

Morgan looked around at the other three people in the room and all of them were nodding, which meant he had hit up on the answer or at least part of it.

"How am I the problem?" asked Morgan more curiously, than angrily. "If I've done something to offend you or make you mad why didn't you just come to me instead of going to Hotch? We could've talked it out and whatever I had done and it could have been worked out as I certainly don't want to lose your friendship, Penelope."

"Morgan, it's a Shifter problem and Hotch is the only other Shifter on the team and the only other one I'm close to, so of course, I went to him," Garcia explained. "I know, you know a lot more about Shifters then you did before Hotch and Spencer got together so tell me what do you think the problem is?"

"I…I…" Morgan said, as he thought about what he knew about Shifters, which wasn't a lot really. He knew that there were multiple kinds, he knew that wolf and lion Shifters were the most common and prolific at least in the States, he knew that it was common for a Shifter to have more than one baby at a time, usually twins or triplets, but that they could have as many as six at once or at least the was true of wolf and lion Shifters, he knew... Morgan's brain fizzled out as he realised that the only other thing he knew about Shifters was that they had one mate. Shifters could marry anyone sure, but they had only one True Mate and in fact it was called that, which Morgan knew meant the same thing as a soulmate that was often written about in literature. His baby girl couldn't mean what he thought, could she?

Morgan acknowledged that he had avoided forming any sort of romantic attachment to any woman, if only because he was afraid of losing someone he cared for and even loved. Despite his best effects though he had been developing feelings for his baby girl for a year now, but he had refused to acknowledge them, telling himself that it would never work out, because it was against FBI regs, although that wasn't really true when it came to Shifters and their True Mates. To keep True Mates separated just because they both worked for the bureau had led to great tragedy in the past as Shifters either quit the FBI completely so that they could be with their mates or it ended in a double suicide/murder. The policy had had to change, because the bureau had lost to many good agents both Shifter and Normals one way or another.

Sure he had enjoyed flirting with Garcia and he knew she enjoyed the flirting back, but had his best friend been trying to give him signals all this time? Ones that he had either completely missed or completely ignored telling himself it was his imagination? And he called himself a profiler, he must not be as good as he thought if he had missed what was right in front of his nose for two years now, for he had just remembered that when a Shifter had met who they were supposed to be with for the rest of their lives for the first time it was automatic and immediate and he believed it was called imprinting which only happened to Shifters, as no other species that he knew of had this biological imperative.

Had his baby girl been silently hurting all this time because he had refused to acknowledge what was between them? She must have been or Garcia never would have gone to Hotch he was sure, not unless she was desperate. Why hadn't she just told him, herself?

Because she knew him well enough to know that he might not listen if it had been just the two of them present when she had told him, Morgan finally realized. Out of anybody his baby girl knew how stubborn he could be and if he had decided to dig in his heels on the subject hurting her farther, Hotch was one of the few people that he would listen to that could prevent him from walking out the door, which was likely why Garcia had recruited him in the first place.

You devious wench, Morgan thought fondly. This whole evening had been a farce from the very beginning. Hotch had suggested dinner to him and thrown him the carrot of seeing his godchildren in order to get him to come and that had been the first part of the plan, and he was positive the second was to sit him down while Garcia told him that he was her mate and Morgan now knew with certainty that Hotch was there for backup, just in case, he got stubborn and dug in his heels and refused to accept what he was told.

He reluctantly acknowledged that all three people in the room knew him a little to well, even Spencer since the two of them did spend quite a bit of time together when they were both free and more often then not Hotch came along as well. Morgan thought it was a shame that Spencer had never joined the bureau, the BAU specifically, because his friend was one of the most intelligent men had ever known and would have been a great asset, but he understood that Spencer had a job that he loved, as he was a healer and from what he knew a very good one.

"I've been an idiot," Morgan said quite suddenly.

Garcia looked up from where she had been gazing at her hands that were in her lap and immediately saw something in Morgan's gaze that made her catch her breath in hope.

Hotch and Spencer rose when they saw that Morgan had acknowledge his feelings for Garcia, even though the black man hadn't said anything, but then you didn't need to for his body language practically screamed it, and anybody conversant in reading the signals the body gave off would be able to tell.

"We'll leave you two to talk," Hotch told the pair, but neither Garcia or Morgan acknowledged his words.

Spencer and Hotch looked at each other in amusement then headed to the kitchen, realizing that the two people they had left behind had a great deal to discuss now that Morgan had finally figured out Garcia's feelings for him and mostly on his own to, with just a little nudge in the right direction.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be," Hotch told his mate once they were out of earshot of the couple in the living room. Spencer nodded in agreement as he and Aaron were both well aware that stubborn was Morgan's middle name, although it was actually Joseph, but Spencer privately thought that it should be stubborn as a mule.

"It was, but the reason I think it was so easy, is because I believe Morgan has begun to develop feelings for her, feelings that he never acknowledged until he was forced to. If Garcia hadn't forced the issue they probably would've danced around each other for years, maybe forever, never acknowledging their feelings."

Hotch totally agreed for he had seen the same things that Spencer had.

"So what do you want to do while they talk?" asked Hotch leering at his mate lustfully.

Spencer laughed and told Hotch, "As much as I would love for you to continue with what I know you're thinking, we do have two guests in the house that will eventually come to tell us goodnight, so it's not a good idea to be seen making out or to be somewhere where they can't find us."

"I suppose so," Hotch said regretfully. "I know you're right, but you know I love when you're pregnant like this, and all the wolf in me wants to do is mate with you."

"Which I won't object to I promise, just as soon as our guests leave for their own homes," Spencer told his mate in a silky voice, making Hotch's mouth go dry, for that voice held so much promise of things to come, that he could hardly wait. Hotch loved this stage of his mate's pregnancy for by the time he got to the middle of his second trimester all he wanted to do was make love and more love, as he became extremely sexually charged, which didn't fade until after the birth of the babies. Unfortunately, he couldn't take advantage of this as much as he would have liked to, because he was gone so much for work, but when he was home he and Spencer spent a great deal of time in bed, although they did make sure to spend time with their children as well.

"I can hardly wait," Hotch told Spencer kissing him deeply.

"Neither can I," Spencer told his mate, as soon as the kiss had broken.

The two stood in the kitchen doorway for the moment simply holding each other before they moved to clean up the kitchen, Spencer simply banished the dirty plates to the sink, filled the sink with soap and water and then had the dishes start cleaning themselves.

"It's so nice to not have to load the dishwasher or clean the plates by hand," Hotch said with a half smile on his lips.

"Yes, it is," Spencer admitted, "No, dishpan hands and no having to worry about unloading the dishwasher and putting the dishes up as I can think of better things to do."

"So can I," Hotch admitted pulling his mate into his arms and kissing him deeply again.

"Aaron! That's not what I meant!" Spencer sputtered laughingly, as soon as the two had broken apart.

"Maybe not," Hotch told him calmly, but with a distinct twinkle in his eyes. "It was fun though."

"That it was," Spencer said softly and simply cuddled into Hotch's very muscular and warm body and silently admitted to himself that there was no other place he's rather be then in the arms of the man he adored with every fiber of his being.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	9. Chapter 9

"So…" Morgan began trying to figure out what to say.

"So…" Garcia repeated

"Look, Penelope, let's just be honest here," Morgan finally said after a rather awkward silence. "I've already said I've been an idiot, and I have been, because I didn't realize that you had feelings for me. I know this doesn't make me look very good, but I'd convinced myself that I was imagining things or that you just had a crush on me that would fade. I'd started to develop feelings for you over the last year, but I kept pushing them down telling myself that you would never see me as anything other than a platonic friend and that the way we flirted was just part of our personalities and dynamic. As I said I've been an idiot."

"And you call yourself a profiler," Garcia told him teasingly relaxing.

"Yes, well, I kept telling myself that I wasn't ready to settle down and refused to acknowledge the feelings that begin to develop towards you," Morgan admitted. "Of course, in my defense we both know that the FBI is disapproves of couples who work together, and at that time I didn't know that I was your True Mate, so I ignored my growing feelings."

"I tried to give you signals," Garcia told Morgan.

"I know that now, but I told myself I was just misreading your interest, partly because of the disapproval about relationships of two people working for the FBI, although that's not the whole reason of course, and really that was just an excuse," Morgan said shrugging looking sheepish. "I'm sorry if I hurt you even if I didn't realize I was until you find forced the situation."

"Does that mean you'll consider...?" Garcia asked hopefully, her voice trailing off.

"If you mean will I consider the two of us dating for awhile, the answer is, yes. Yes, I have developed feelings for you and yes, we spend a great deal of our free time together outside of work, even if that's only as friends, but we've never been on an actual date before. Besides, we have a lot of things to talk about before and several unresolved issues before we consider taking of our relationship to the next level."

"I'm so relieved," Garcia said standing on her tiptoes before throwing her arms around Morgan's neck and hugging him tightly. "I was so afraid you were going to be stubborn and refuse to acknowledge that you liked me as more than a friend."

"You should have come to me," Morgan told her quite seriously, "but I understand why you did not. I also understand why you went to Hotch instead of just talking to me by yourself. I know I can be rather stubborn and hardheaded."

"That's the understatement of the decade," Garcia giggled her relief obvious.

"You're not supposed to agree with me," Morgan said pouting playfully.

"Hey, I'm not going to stroke your ego by telling you that you aren't stubborn when you are," Garcia said simply. "That just encourages arrogance and soon your head would be too big to fit through any doorway."

"Hey!" Morgan exclaimed pretending to be offended, but actually he was glad that he and his baby girl had acknowledged the elephant that had been between them for a long time now, even if he hadn't seen it, until he had been forced to.

"So if my reasoning is correct I am your True Mate," Morgan said finally getting down to the subject at hand.

"You are," Garcia admitted softly.

"And you knew this from the moment you met me," Morgan continued.

"Yes," Garcia admitted.

"All right I can understand why you didn't tell me when we had just met two years ago, but you should've told me sometime and at least the last six months."

"And if I had? If I hadn't gone to Hotch, what would have been you're probable reaction?" asked Garcia rhetorically.

"Alright," Morgan admitted after a moment, "you're right. Going to Hotch was the correct decision. I know myself well enough to know that I would either have walked out the door, or I would have been stubborn and refused to admit what you told me and if I had done either one of them that would have put a barrier between us, which I know neither of us want. Bringing me here to this house though, which can be sealed with magic and where I wouldn't have been able to leave until I listened to reason, was a good idea. Yes, I would have been furious initially, but I would have eventually seen reason."

"So where do you want to go from here?" asked Garcia

"Well, at least we don't have to go through a get to know you stage, since we know each other very well already," Morgan said, "but as I said I think we need to go on a few dates at least for the next month or two, after that though we'll see."

"I think your idea of going on a few dates first is a good one, because even though I have this connection to you and have since the moment we met, we both need time to accept that our relationship has just gone from platonic friendship to something more and we need to to absorb that as it's not easy to go from being best friends to a couple."

"Yes, I need time to absorb what I've been told tonight. I keep kicking myself for missing all the signs you gave me," Morgan admitted looking angry, although that was more at himself then Penelope or Hotch.

Garcia giggled at that and told him, "Yes, you were being rather dense. I was so in love with you and you couldn't see past the end of your nose on the subject."

"Alright, so I was stupid, there's no need to rub it in," Morgan said in a mock offended tone.

"You deserve it for the emotional torture you put me through," Garcia told Morgan with a small smile. "If you had any idea how much the lion part of me has been torturing me to just take you without your consent and how hard it was to resist that part of me, then you would understand exactly what you put me through over the last almost two years."

Garcia didn't mention the very intense sexual dreams she had been having ever since she had met him, and it was likely that she would never tell him at all.

"Hey!" Morgan exclaimed truly offended.

"I have loved you from the moment I met you, Derek Morgan," Garcia told him seriously, not being her usually cheerful and bubbly self, "but you couldn't see what was right in front of your eyes. It is not completely your fault because I should have told you about the fact that you were my mate at least after the first year of knowing each other, but…"

"But..." Morgan repeated, "we both know that that wouldn't have worked at least with me, as I wasn't ready to get into a serious relationship with anyone, not when we initially met anyway. Now that we have gotten to know each other as friends, it shouldn't be too hard to take that relationship to the next level."

"Yes, perhaps, it was better this way," Garcia admitted. "A couple that starts off as friends first, well there's less chance of their relationship ending in divorce, unless they lose their common ground."

"Divorce really isn't an option for Shifter though is it? Not one that has found their True Mate anyway," asked Morgan rhetorically. "I mean, even I know that once a Shifter has found their mate, and the other person has accepted it is forever and there is no such thing as divorce for a Shifter and their True Mate."

"You're right," Garcia told him with a sad smile. "Since True Mates are the same thing as soulmates even if the name is different that means they are two halves of a whole. In other words, one is not happy without the other after he or she has been discovered and it doesn't matter if that Shifters mate is a Normal, a witch, a wizard, or another Shifter. It doesn't matter if a Shifter's True Mate is the same-sex they are though they're are some Shifter families who disagree and arrange marriages for their children, which most of the time never last more than a few years at most."

"Like what happened to Hotch," Morgan murmured and Garcia nodded in acknowledgement of the point.

"So you're both a Shifter and a witch," Morgan said. "I hope I'm not being too nosy but is that common?"

"Not really," Garcia told him, "and no you're not being nosy as it is a perfectly sensible question. Shifters who are also witches and wizards, well it's still pretty rare at least here in the States. There's probably not more than 100 of us, and that's just a rough estimate. It is likely that some of Hotch's and Spencer's children will inherit both. Every single one of their children will be Shifters, simply because both of Hotch's parents are Shifters and the gene is dominate unless a Shifter marries a Normal, for more then 4 or 5 generations straight down the line and only then will the next generation after that not be able to shift, although if that child marries a Shifter then their children will be able to. However, as Spencer and Hotch have already told you and JJ a few months back it's quite possible and even likely that only a few of their children will inherit Spencer's magic or they all could."

"Yes, I remember Spencer saying that magic can be rather tricky and unpredictable," said Morgan remembering back to that conversation six months ago.

"Well, Spencer was right," Garcia said. "If both Spencer and Hotch were wizards, then all their cubs would almost certainly inherit the gift, although there's about 1% chance that one of them would turn out to be a squib, which only means a child born into a magical family that didn't inherit their gift, but that usually only happens with purebloods who have married only other purebloods, in other words, their cousins, for generations. However, since Spencer is the only one that has magic in this case, it's very possible that only some of their cubs will have the ability. Of course, it's also possible that they all will inherit it or that none of them will, because as Spencer told you six months ago genetics are really very tricky and you never know what you're going to get."

"So when does a child start exhibiting signs of magic?" asked Morgan.

"It varies, from child to child," Garcia admitted. "Mostly they don't start exhibiting the signs until they're at least two, but a few have been known to start showing signs of magic much earlier or later, but usually by the time a child is five is when you can tell with certainty that they're a witch or wizard unless they show signs of magic before that. Of course, this only happens when only one parent in a family is a wizard or a witch and the other is either a Shifter or Normal, because it is likely that a child who has both parents who have magic that they will inherit it."

"So if we would have children sometime in the future…" Morgan said.

"Then it's possible that all our children will inherit it, although I'll tell you right now I won't have as many as Hotch and Spencer," Garcia said. "Yes, I want children with you in a few years, but I think 4 to 6 is more than enough for us."

"If you happen to get pregnant with twins or triplets the first time and then have quadruplets the next time…" Morgan left his sentence as unfinished.

"Then I don't plan on giving any of them to an orphanage, but if I happen to have quadruplets the first time, I plan on having my tubes tied immediately, because not only can you forget to take the pill that prevents pregnancy they don't always work on Shifters anyway, as it is something about our biology that can circumvent them and it might just have something to do with the fact that us Shifters tend to be super fertile."

"Yes, I think at least four will be plenty, but if we get more than that I won't object," Morgan said. "We're going to have to buy a house though, somewhere with at least five bedrooms."

"The children can share, if they need to as we need at least one guestroom. You know I'm sure Spencer knows the spell that expands a room, like what was done to the nursery upstairs, we can worry about that later though, because that's for the future."

The two continued to talk for a few minutes, but then both realized that it was getting late, as it was after 10 and that they were holding Spencer and Hotch up from doing whatever they wanted and so went tell them good night, thanked them and left together.

Both Hotch and Spencer watched from the window as Morgan and Garcia went to their separate cars and drove away after talking for a minute.

"What do you think the odds are that they're going somewhere to talk some more?" asked Spencer.

"Low enough that I wouldn't place a bet against it," Hotch told his mate with a smirk putting an arm around his mate's waist.

"Well, that was easier than I expected, considering we both know how stubborn and hardheaded Morgan can be," Spencer said cuddling into Aaron's side.

"Yes, it was, but they both still have a long way to go, before they can complete the bond, but at least now that's possible," Hotch said. "I wouldn't be surprised if just a couple of months from now they'll announcing their engagement."

"We certainly didn't take that long," Spencer told Hotch lovingly kissing his cheek.

"Yes, well, neither one of us, avoided romantic attachments like Morgan did, nor did we have the history between us that those two do. In some ways the history they have together will make things easier for them, because they're already good friends and therefore, they don't have to go through a getting to know you stage, but in other ways it won't, especially for Morgan. Both of them have a lot of work through, Morgan in particular."

"They'll make it," Spencer said, "as the bond that Garcia has with Morgan will not let her run and hide from her feelings and Morgan's stubbornness, and his friendship with her, will not let him back out either, especially now that he has acknowledged that he does have feelings for her. I give it a month, maybe two before they're announcing their engagement and I won't be surprised if after that they decide to elope or do the Shifter ceremony just like we did, because arranging wedding details will take three times as long, just because they're working so much of the time, though I suppose Garcia could work on that when she's not finding information for you and the team. However, actually having all your friends and family present for the ceremony, when so many of them have a uncertain schedules, well I don't see them going through that, simply because all of you have jobs that aren't conducive to planning a big formal event, and finding a time where all of you can be there, is to much trouble and likely impossible."

"Well, the team would be willing to take the time off, but as for the others that Morgan and Garcia know there's no way that the bureau would give that many people time off on the same day," Hotch admitted.

"And Strauss is also a factor," Spencer pointed out and Hotch nodded.

"Yeah, she would probably try to deny the team's leave out of sheer spite," Hotch admitted.

"Well, at least she hasn't tried to break us apart," Reid said.

"She knows better," Hotch told his mate. "She knows that if she tries to breakup our relationship, by threatening my job at the bureau or in some other underhanded way, she would soon lose her position for not only do I have many friends within the bureau it is against the regs to try to breakup a Shifter and their mate even if they both work for the FBI, so really Strauss doesn't have a legal leg to stand on and there's no way she would risk her job, even though I know she hates me. If she went ahead and tried anyway I would quit before I allowed her spitefulness to affect our relationship, as you are the most important person in the world to me."

"But if you did that would give Strauss exactly what she wanted," Spencer pointed out.

"Some battles are just not worth fighting," Hotch told his mate being deadly serious, pulling him close. "I've told you before that our relationship is the most important thing in the world to me and although I love my job, it's not more important than you are. If I thought for a minute, that my work was affecting our relationship I would quit and that would be the end of it."

"Somebody really needs to look into all the decisions Strauss has made ever since she joined the bureau, but especially for the last ten years and maybe something could be found that would get her fired at the least," Spencer suggested.

"Unfortunately, there is no way to do that at least not without Strauss finding out what we are doing, so we'll just have to hope that she makes a mistake," Hotch said with regret in his voice.

The two stayed there silently for a minute, gazing lovingly into each others eyes before Hotch swept his pregnant mate up into his arm and headed upstairs, Spencer not protesting in the least as he felt so hormonally charged that all he wanted was for his mate to be buried in his body.

"I promised you I wouldn't protest if you wanted to make love to me after our guests had left and that still holds true, so feel free to do to me whatever you want to do and I promise you I will not only not protest I will participate quite happily."

"Good," Hotch said his voice a growl and Spencer knew that the wolf part of his mate was coming to the surface. "Because you are mine, just like I am yours and we haven't made love in hours and that is totally unacceptable."

"We made love just this morning," Spencer told his mate even as he stroked his cheek tenderly, "before we got up for the day."

"And now it's after 10 o'clock at night and I haven't had the pleasure of your body in all that time and I plan on rectifying that immediately. Besides, don't think I can't smell your arousal and I could the whole time that we had guests."

"Feel free," Spencer told his mate his voice husky with desire, "as you can smell my arousal, but then you know how sexually charged I get when I'm pregnant so that I want you all the time."

"Oh, I do, I definitely do," Hotch answered his eyes flashing the gold of the wolf. "If you get this sexually charged every time you get pregnant I might just keep you that way for the foreseeable future and I don't care if we have 50 or more pups."

"Aaron! That's way too many," Spencer protested laughingly knowing his mate was only partly joking. "Besides, women have died before from being worn out with birth after birth, and we both know that neither one of us wants to leave the other."

"Alright, it was just an idea," Hotch admitted with a rather lecherous grin causing desire, lust and the need to have his, Aaron buried in his body immediately to shoot directly to Spencer's groin. Luckily, it would only be another few seconds, as Hotch had just stepped off the last stair to the fourth floor and the master bedroom was just down the hall. "I wasn't really serious, although it's certainly a pleasant thought."

"It is," Spencer agreed, "unfortunately, it isn't really practical."

Hotch entered his and Spencer's bedroom placing his mate gently on the bed, before heading into the bathroom to do his business. He was back in the bedroom in less then three minutes and he immediately pounced on top of his mate who in the meantime had removed his clothes.

Hotch immediately started lavishing his mate with attention determined to make him beg, before he was allowed to come and this was how they spent several pleasant hours before they contentedly fell asleep in each other's arms both their libidos finally satisfied.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

It had been decided that the c-section was going to be done at the eight months mark which was only a week later than the first time, but Addison assured Hotch who was a worrywart when it came to his mate that they could do the operation at anytime if Spencer happened to go into labor early. The time passed quickly and Hotch went to work like he normally did secure in the knowledge that there were other people in the house that could get his mate to St. Murphy's if he happened to go into labor, while he wasn't there.

Not only was Amelia, Harmony and Haven there also was Cassie Corbett, who was once again watching Spencer's diet very closely to make sure he ate healthily and that he didn't gain as much weight as the last time since he had still had about 40 pounds of baby weight.

"So how's Spencer doing?" Rossi asked his friend. Rossi had been shocked when his protégé and his mate had told him that magic was real but the practical demonstration, not to mention the fact that Spencer had dropped the illusion or glamor as Spencer had called it, that made his stomach look normal and when he had seen a very pregnant Spencer Reid, he had started to believe.

Spencer had gone on to explain, as much about magic as he could and about the spells that allowed a man to get pregnant and have children naturally.

Rossi had had trouble accepting this at first, but then who wouldn't? But when Spencer had turned one of his very antique and priceless end tables into a lion that roared ferociously, looked like it wanted to eat him for dinner and scared the hell out of him, before Spencer had changed it back, well that had indeed convinced him that magic was indeed real.

He had learned a lot about magic that night, since it turned out that their technical analyst Garcia was also a witch as well as a Shifter, the combination being pretty rare as there were probably a hundred or less in the United States although that was rapidly changing, he had since learned.

He had been honored to be named the godfather of one of Hotch's and Spencer's new sons and had had been promised after this next batch was born he would have a second godson who he could spoiled rotten.

Rossi admitted he was looking forward to it, since unfortunately, his one son had died of a bad heart several days after he was born decades ago. He already loved his godson so much and he admitted that Spencer and Hotch had surprised him by giving their son the first of David, after him. Yes, his godson was named after him even if he was called Davey instead of Dave, so he wouldn't be confused with himself.

"He's fine," Hotch answered his old friend's questions "I wouldn't be so comfortable about leaving him considering he's nearly 8 months pregnant, except for the fact that he has plenty of help and he's not alone. There are other people in the house and there's at least one person with him or at least close by at all times. I don't want him to feel confined or crowded, so the woman that work for us arranged it, so at least one person is home when he is. Spencer isn't really confined to the house, but he is sensible and knows that going out right now when he's so close to giving birth, by having a c-section is a very bad idea, as he could very well go into labor if he is stressed or strains himself. I'm sure he's closed up in the library reading or doing some kind of research project since he's on maternity leave from St. Murphy's."

"I saw him myself just last week and he was extremely cheerful, but looking forward to the birth of his children," JJ said looking up from the case file she was studying on her lap. "One of which I will be godmother to although I think I prefer a girl this time if there is one, since I already have a godson.

"Sorry you're out of luck this time JJ," Hotch told her, "because Addison, Spencer's healer or doctor has already said that's it all boys, unless of course, there is a fifth one hiding behind all the others like that one last time, which is possible I'll admit, but the odds against such a thing happening, twice in a row...well they are quite high. Even if there is a fifth one that baby would likely be a boy as well, considering the other four are also boys."

"So have you already picked out names?" asked Morgan who had been listening into the conversation

"Of course," Hotch said smirking. "Months ago."

"So are you going to tell us what names you and Spencer picked out?" asked JJ looking eager.

"Well, we picked out five first names and five middle names just in case there is an extra baby like last time," Hotch began. "We decided on Russell, Pierce, Oskar and either Morgan or Derek."

Morgan looked startled at that and then a large grin spread across his face. "You're going to name one of your sons after me?"

"Yes, we are, and actually Spencer insisted on it and it was okay with me. We argued between Derek and Morgan, and really we haven't decided between the two, but I'm leaning towards Derek since you never use it and it would be less confusing."

"The two of you don't have much longer to make up your minds, since Spence will go in for his c-section pretty soon," JJ said

"Personally, I would go with Derek, because it's less confusing," Rossi said. "My first name has several different variations, unlike Morgan which you can't shorten."

"That's a good point and I'll bring it up with Spencer, when we talk tonight, although I'm sure he will agree," Hotch said.

"So that's only four names, and you said you had picked out a fifth one just in case you got quints instead or quads," JJ pointed out.

"So I did," Hotch admitted. "Spencer picked out that one and he decided that if we did have a fifth son, he wanted to name him after his father William, which is also Spencer's middle name."

"And if you don't this time?" asked Morgan curiously.

"And if we decide to have more, in four or five years that will be the first name of our firstborn son."

"With your luck you'll probably have all girls," Rossi said grinning at that possibility and Hotch nodded knowing it was very possible.

"Well, if we do have all girls or just one the firstborn daughter is going to be named Diana, after Spencer's mother," Hotch said.

"You act like it's a done deal that you got to have more after this," JJ said.

Hotch shrugged and said, "It is actually. Spencer informed me that the Potter family at least his branch of it tends to have quite a few children, mostly because they truly love them and they can certainly afford to raise them in style, but then Spencer's branch of the family at least are known to have a lot of fraternal twins, so they don't have to get pregnant as many times, as they would have to if the woman had only one baby at a time. Now if Spencer and I had tried to adopt and actually succeeded I doubt very much we would have been able to adopt more than three or four at most and they would have likely been older children who most people don't consider adopting because they aren't infants or toddlers."

"Just how many children are we talking about?" asked JJ curiously.

"How many children Spencer and I plan on having? Or how many children the Potters tend to have?"

"Both," JJ said and both Rossi and Morgan looked curious as to the answer to both questions.

"Well, as to how many children a lot of the female Potters have since twins and they tend to run in the female line, around 10 to 20."

"That many?" Rossi asked, as JJ covered her mouth in shock

"Yep, and Spencer said his mother was rather unusual that she only had eight, all of which are fraternal twins, except for Spencer and his sister Natalie, who was the youngest until Hudson and Bronwyn were born," Hotch said, "And according to what Spencer told me his mother never planned on having Hudson and Bronwyn, so they were a rather unexpected, but welcome addition to the family."

"So are you going to have that many children?" asked Morgan who had been mostly silent up until now."

"If we do I won't object, since I always wanted at least 10 pups and we both have plenty of money to look after whatever pups we do have and make sure they grow up to be hardworking and honest, and not spoiled unless they get their way. After all Spencer doesn't need to work it all if he didn't want to, and neither do his siblings, but he does, as do Leah and Liya his two sisters that are four years younger than he is. None of the Reids brag about how much money is in the family and in fact they try to live as quietly as possible, even if they don't have to struggle to make a living like a lot of people do."

"So he comes from old money then," JJ said and Hotch nodded.

"As I told the others awhile back before you joined the team, the Potters were one of the very few families that didn't lose their money in the stock market crash of 29, and while this is true, now that you know that they all part of the magical community, it's okay to tell you that a lot of their Galleons is invested in the magical world, although Spencer tells me that his family was rather unusual as they invested in the muggle world as well and that is why their fortune is so large. Spencer said that his family always believed in not having all their eggs in one basket and therefore, they investment portfolio is very rich and varied. According to what I know a lot of the old money families only invest in the magical world and therefore, their fortunes are not as large, since there are only limited opportunities to add to their family fortunes. I can't give you the exact amount, of how much money the Reid family has, because even if I knew I wouldn't tell you and Spencer's never revealed that information to me and I've never asked, because it doesn't really matter to me, as I didn't fall in love with him because of his money and it isn't really important to me."

"That's a good attitude to have," Rossi said approvingly.

He had already known that his former protégé didn't really care all that much for having a lot of money, just so long as he had enough to suit his needs he was happy. He knew that attitude at least partly came from the fact that his family had quite a bit of money and he and his 17 siblings had been abused for their whole lives, mostly by being slapped around, by their domineering parents, although it was mostly Aaron's mother that had been into physical abuse while his father had just neglected them.

"In any case, Spencer has already informed me that he is willing to have more children in a few years, once the ones we have are older, and his body is given the chance to rest and recover, because even though he was taking some potions that help with the aches and pains associated with pregnancy, it was still hard on his body, even if he had it easier than he would have without those potions. His healer and former mentor Addison advised that we not try to have anymore for at least a few years to give Spencer's body a chance to recover and since we think ten children is more than enough for us to handle at the moment, that was fine. We agree, that he could get pregnant every three or four years, until he was 40 and by then we will probably have more than 20 children and that's more than enough for us."

"How are you going to explain that many children?" Morgan asked curiously. "I mean you are both men after all."

"IVF," Hotch told the other three calmly. "Spencer certainly has the money to go through the IVF process, and he came up with the idea of saying that he asked his sister Leah to donate some eggs to the cause since she is the one that looks the most like Spencer that is of age. Leah has agreed if she's asked to tell people that yes, she donated some eggs to her brother and his partner so they could have children of their own. While we all know this is not true, it's the story that makes the most logical sense and one that people will believe. I don't plan on going into any detail, just giving them the basic facts and if they ask for more detail after that I'll tell them it's none of their business."

"I can't see a woman agreeing to carry six embryos," JJ said. "I mean I've never given birth before, but I know that carrying one baby is hard enough much less that many."

"We thought of that too," Hotch promised her. "If people are nosy enough to ask, we will simply say that we got a volunteer to agree to the implantation of six embryos and that we never expected all of them to be viable and turn into fetuses, because most of the time one or two of the embryos will catch while the others just vanish and when they did we paid the woman a fee for each baby and for carrying them all to term."

"Wow! The way you say it makes me believe you, even though I know that's not the way it happened," JJ said.

"It's a skill," Hotch said with a shrug. "Spencer and I never would have had anymore, after the initial six if we hadn't come up with some kind of story that made some sort of logical sense, because we know people will question how two men could have pups, especially ones that look a lot like both of us."

"People will be curious as to why you have so many though," Morgan said, "even if you tell them you went through the IVF process they'll wonder if you're insane for having so many children."

"I don't really care what other people think," Hotch said with a shrug. "The Potters have been known to have so many children because they truly love them and not just to carry on the family name like some people, and Spencer does have Potter blood from his mother, so that love was passed onto him. I'm also very fond of children as I helped raise my younger siblings, since my mother…well, she wasn't really much of one," Hotch admitted. "In any case, I have no objection to having 20 pups of various ages running around. Besides, they go to school when they're 11, if they inherit Spencer's magic and will be gone for nine months of the year and by the time they graduate they'll be all grown up, so doing their school years we'll only see them for Christmas and the summer and after they do graduate we'll likely see them more than we did while they were at school."

"I so want a baby of my own," JJ said wistfully. "I could never deal with as many as you and Spencer have, but then I don't have the money to hire expert help, but I certainly wouldn't mind having at least two."

"You'll meet someone, someday that will likely help you fulfill that wish," Hotch told JJ.

"With as much as we work I somehow doubt it, but you could be right," JJ admitted.

The four of them fell silent and went back to what they had been doing before the discussion had began as they wanted to relax as much as possible before they landed in Georgia to help the local police with their serial killer problem.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Spencer went into labor just a few days before he was scheduled to have his c-section, but luckily, thanks to Amelia and her granddaughters who were at the house, they were able to rush him to St. Murphy's immediately. The hospital had given them an emergency Portkey, just in case Spencer went into labor before his scheduled operation just as they did for all their patients that were carrying multiples. As soon as they arrived he was immediately rushed into the operating room and put to sleep using a charm where he would not wake, until the counterspell was said.

Unfortunately, Hotch was out of town, and so could not be there at the moment, but Amelia contacted him as she and her granddaughter had been given cellphones and patiently taught how to use them.

When Amelia pushed the number one button as the important numbers had been preprogrammed in she got Hotch immediately and she told him that Spencer had gone into labor.

Hotch was worried, but not too much, because he had known that this was a possibility, which was why he was glad that his mate had so much help.

Amelia was ordered to contact his two sisters who had since graduated, and to let him know how Spencer was as soon as she knew. Amelia thought it was a shame that Aaron couldn't be with his mate at the moment, but understood that he was working or otherwise he would be.

Amelia sat down in one of the plastic chairs in the waiting room and tried to wait patiently comforting her granddaughters who were worried about the man they had started to consider an older brother figure even if he was technically their employer.

"He'll be okay girls," Amelia assured her granddaughters gently. "Spencer and Aaron knew that this was a possibility, which is why they were so well-prepared. Luckily, it's only a few days before he was going to go for his scheduled c-section anyway so hopefully, the babies will be just fine.

"Excuse me? Are you here for Spencer Reid?" asked a nurse from the doorway.

"We are," Amelia said immediately rising to her feet. "I'm Amelia Tarrington and I work for Spencer. Unfortunately, his partner is out of town for work."

The nurse checked something on her clipboard and said, "You are on the list of approved people that are allowed to be told confidential information, so I can tell you that Healer Reid is just fine, as are his four children, all boys, who are surprisingly in good shape considering that they were born more than a month early. Spencer came through the operation, in good shape to, despite the fact that he went into labor and he should only need to spend a day or two here before he's allowed to go home."

"And what about his sons?" Amelia questioned knowing that Aaron would want to know how his children were doing, just as much as his mate.

"The quads are doing just fine, as I said and are in surprisingly excellent health considering they're over a month early and it's clear that Healer Reid has been taking care of himself during his pregnancy as his sons are a good weight as they are just over 4 pounds apiece."

"Can I see Spencer and talk to him?" Amelia asked. "His partner, Aaron Hotchner is going to want to know how he's doing, as he's already upset that he wasn't here when this happened and he ordered me to call him immediately as soon as I had any news. He'll be glad to hear that Spencer is okay, but I'd like to see for myself, so that my report will not sound false."

"The doctor has put him under a light sleep spell to give himself to heal from the operation, but he should be awake in maybe an hour. Go ahead and go to his room though just so long as you don't wake him since I can understand you wanting to see for yourself that your employer is okay."

Amelia didn't bother to tell the nurse that she didn't really think of Spencer as her employer any longer, even if that's what he technically was, as he was more like a son.

"Thank you, I just want to see for myself that he's okay, so I can give Aaron an honest report as he really was very worried and I guarantee you that if he'd had a choice he would be here," Amelia said.

"He's in room 349," the nurse told Amelia who nodded gratefully thanking her absently.

"Harmony, Haven, I want you to remain here and I will be back shortly."

"Can we go see the babies?" Haven asked.

"Of course, dearie," the nurse told the young girl who couldn't have been more than 8 or 9. "Only your…"

"Grandmother," Amelia supplied.

"Only your grandmother will be allowed to check on Healer Reid, at least until he's awake, but you're welcome to go up to the nursery and look at all the infants," the nurse said.

"I will take them with me then and leave them out in the hallway while I check on Spencer and then we can go to the nursery together see his children," Amelia decided.

"That's a fine idea," the nurse said approvingly before leaving Amelia and her granddaughters.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"They're beautiful!" Hotch said, as he stood in the doorway of the nursery gazing at his four beautiful sons that he and Spencer had created together.

"Yes, they are," Spencer immediately agreed as he came to stand beside Hotch putting his arm around his mate's waist, "but then they are ours, so of course, we think they're beautiful."

It was just three days later and Spencer had come home the very next day, but his sons had had to stay in the hospital for another day so that they could be checked over thoroughly to make sure that they were completely healthy.

For Hotch part he had just gotten home a few minutes ago and had immediately gone up to check on his four newest sons, after he had checked to make sure his mate was really okay, even if Spencer had called him as soon as he had gotten home to let him know that he was fine he still wanted to see for himself.

"You really scared me you know," Hotch told Spencer as he kissed the top of his mate's head lovingly relieved that his mate was safe and whole and also that his and Spencer's four newest sons were healthy.

"Yes, I know and I'm sorry for that, it wasn't intentional," Spencer told him leaning up to kiss him on the lips. "You have to realize though that sometimes even women go into labor before their scheduled c-sections, so it wasn't like this was unusual, because really all that happened was my water broke and therefore, once that happened pregnancy cannot be stopped so the babies have to come out and we were just lucky that it happened only a few days before my scheduled operation."

"I know it happens sometime and I know that when you water broke it was just time for our sons to be born," Hotch said, "however, that doesn't mean that you didn't scare the crap out of me. I had trouble concentrating on the case until Amelia called me and told me that you were okay and so were our four newest sons."

"Well, at least you know that Amelia is good in a crisis situation," Spencer said surprisingly cheerfully.

"I could think of the less scary ways to find that out," Hotch said dryly causing Spencer to laugh.

"Probably," Spencer agreed with a smile. "However, thanks to the system we had in place there were four women here that knew what to do in case something like that occurred and because they were both me and the babies are just fine."

"I'm glad so that Addison took the spells off you and that you're now back to normal at least for the next four years or so."

"Yes, he did," Spencer said cheerfully. "There is no chance of me getting pregnant again unless or until we decide to have more."

"I thought you wanted more?" asked Hotch in surprise.

"I do," Spencer admitted honestly, "but I thought you might not want to try again after what happened and I would be willing to go along with that since ten is plenty. I'm not saying I wouldn't like a few more daughters since we only have two, but I am perfectly happy with my eight sons and my two daughters if that's all I'm going to have."

Hotch was genuinely touched that Spencer was willing to not have anymore pups if he didn't want him to, but there was no way that the two of them wouldn't have anymore children because of one little scare as going into labor early happened sometimes during pregnancy, especially when one was carrying more than one.

"Yes, you scared me," Hotch admitted being completely truthful, "however, I'm well aware that sometimes women go into labor early and I don't see why you should be any different just because you're a man, especially since we both know that it is perfectly common with multiple babies, even twins. What I'm trying to say is that yes, I'm willing to let you have the spells put on you again, and have more children in three or four years if that's what we both want. I wouldn't mind having a few more daughters myself, and that's what I'm hoping we have next time."

"Well, it is the man that controls sex of the child, although the woman plays a part in that determination to," Spencer said relieved that he was going to be able to have a few more children or pups as Aaron called them in a few years of course, "and both sexes seem to run rather strong in your family as well as mine, so think positively, and when we are having sex and I have the spells on, think 'I want daughters' and maybe we'll get our wish."

"Scientist claim that there's no way to control the sex of the baby you get your spouse pregnant with, and that there is a 50-50 chance either way," Hotch said. "Then again scientist don't know everything, and I've met some families that either have all girls or all boys even if there are 9 or 10 children in the family."

"Well, I'm hoping for daughters next time, but even if we get more sons that's okay," Spencer said.

Hotch gazed at his four new sons and so wanted to pick them up, but they were snoozing so peacefully and he didn't want to disturb them.

"I know you want to go cuddle them and count their fingers and toes," Spencer said sympathetically, "but we'll get plenty of opportunities to do that while they are young."

"I know, but I never imagined I'd be a father, not of so many children anyway. As you know my childhood wasn't exactly conducive to learning empathy."

"I still think you should let me go change your mother into a newt or something even more slimy. She deserves to be something small and slimy that can be easily stepped on and exterminated," Spencer growled looking fierce and protective, which was usually more Hotch's thing, as Spencer was usually quiet, gentle one, until you made him mad that is and Abigail, Hotch's mother, made him madder then he had ever been in his life.

"You know I never imagined having so many children, but now I'm glad they're here," said Hotch. "Unlike my own parents I will love them no matter what, not slap them around like my own mother did, and if one of my sons mate happens to be male I will certainly not be upset like my mother will be if she ever found out about you and me. Even if one of my children is gay or bisexual I won't object if they want to settle down with a male partner or if one of our daughters wants to do the same with her own sex then I will still love them and support them."

"Now that is what your mother and father should've been like," Spencer said, "but then maybe if they had been decent parents you wouldn't be the man I love with all my heart. In any case, I believe it's time we go to bed, since you've been gone for a week and I missed you while you were."

"Are you sure you're ready for that?" Hotch asked knowing exactly what Spencer was implying without having to be told.

"Addison gave me a clean bill of health earlier this afternoon during my appointment," Spencer assured him understanding his mate's concerns and rushing to alleviate them. "He did tell me though that it was a good thing he was taking those spells off me, because he wouldn't want me to risk my health by going through a third pregnancy so close together to the other two. He told me that my body needed time to recover and that I was to give myself at least three years before I consider having anymore."

"Good advice," Hotch said.

"Yes, it was and I don't plan to having those spells put back on me in three years, maybe four, so we won't have to worry about me getting pregnant for at least that long."

"You'll be 29 or so then if you wait four years," Hotch said. "Is this pregnancy going to be our last one are you going to go to the fourth time?"

"It all depends on how it goes doesn't it? But I would like to go through it at least once more before I reach 40, but we'll see how the third pregnancy goes in three or four years before we make any definite decisions."

"Yes, I agree," Hotch said thinking that despite his young age Reid was a very wise man, patient and methodical. "If the third pregnancy goes all right, then we'll go through the process at least once, maybe three more times before we'll stop."

"If we do that it's very likely we will get 20 children, depending on how many we have each time," Spencer said.

"Are you planning on having them close together again like you did with these 10?" asked Hotch

"Maybe," Spencer said, "as I just said it all depends on how that third pregnancy goes, but it is a possibility. I certainly didn't have any trouble with either one of my pregnancies, at least not until the very end where my water broke, which could happen to anyone, because it's not like it was an unusual event. We'll make that decision together when the time comes, but right now I believe we have better things to do."

"That we do," Hotch agreed gently picking up his mate in his arms and carrying him towards the bedroom that was down the hall.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Two months later

Morgan gulped nervously ringing the doorbell of Garcia's apartment, which was situated at one end of an enclosed courtyard with houses on either side.

Morgan fingered the ring box in his pocket and tried his best to stop doing that as he knew that his baby girl would notice. The last two months had been some of the best in his life, even though he and the rest of team were gone a great deal. He knew he and Penelope had only been officially dating for two months but they had both been building up to this for much longer, although if she and Hotch had not figuratively knocked some sense into him it was likely that he would've been too stubborn to see what was right in front of his nose and therefore he would have sabotaged his own happiness.

He and his baby girl had talked quite a lot and he now knew much more about Shifters then he had ever known before, and he had learned exactly how much it had hurt his baby girl for the way that he kept ignoring all the signals she was giving him, and how much it had taken out of her to not give up on him entirely. Morgan had learned all about the Shifter ceremony, that would see them officially married even if they never went through a normal wedding ceremony with their family and friends in attendance. He had learned that a lot of Shifter/Normal couples went through both depending on circumstances and desire of course. Morgan was willing to go through the Shifter ceremony when the time came and had told Garcia so, which had made her incredibly happy. Neither of them saw the point of having a normal wedding ceremony considering their jobs, but if they had children and f they wanted to give them legitimacy then they were likely going to have to do that to whether or not it was what they wanted.

He had also learned that his baby girl had seriously considered quitting, because being around him every day had hurt her deeply and now he knew if he had refused to acknowledge his feelings for her or brushed aside hers she would have quit and then taken off for parts unknown, simply because she wouldn't have been able to stand being around him everyday with the bond unacknowledged. Holding out for almost two years had been difficult enough, but she wouldn't have lasted much longer and that she had lasted so long was frankly only due to sheer stubbornness.

The door opened and in the doorway stood one of the beautiful, voluptuous woman he had ever known. "Well, hello there, handsome," Garcia said. "Come in."

Morgan entered and Garcia closed the door.

"You're a little early, but I'll be ready in a minute," Garcia said kissing his cheek.

The two of them had not completed the bond as of yet, but that day was getting closer and in fact it would happen this weekend if he had any say in the matter, so he was desperately hoping that the team didn't get called out of town.

The only reason that they had not done so before now was, because the two of them had had a lot to get settled, before getting to that point, as they had quite a lot of personal history to sort through. Morgan truly envied Hotch, as he knew that he and Spencer had completed the bond after just two and a half weeks, but then again they didn't have any personal history. Hotch or Spencer for that matter also didn't have his fears of romantic entanglements and that was another reason that he and his baby girl had yet to make love, as he'd had his own demons to work through and he'd had to decide if his fear of relationships was going to stop him from loving Penelope the way she should be loved as he didn't want to get serious with her if he wasn't going to have any sticking power. Of course, Penelope had informed him that once they had completed the bond he wouldn't be able to leave her, nor she him, and so he was going to have to decide if he was ever going to be ready to make a commitment, because there was no divorce when a Shifter found their True Mate and once they had sex for the first time they would be together until death. Morgan now knew that if he tried to leave his baby girl once the bond was completed he would start to feel sick and so would she, and the only way to alleviate the symptoms was to get back together.

Morgan remembered asking what about going away for work and Garcia had said that Hotch and Spencer never had any trouble being apart like that, because Hotch always came home. The bond was nearly a semi-sentient thing and it was the intention of the person that made the bond react, Garcia told him as it knew the difference between a temporary separation because of work or some other activity, or a person's intention to leave their mate permanently.

"I'm ready to go," Garcia said coming out of bedroom, "so where are we going?"

"It's a surprise," Morgan told her with a grin. "Don't worry you'll like it I'm sure."

"Alright then," Garcia said, as she followed Morgan out of her apartment making sure to lock her door behind her.

Morgan opened the passenger door for Garcia and helped her inside before going around to the driver's side.

Morgan started the engine and drove out on the street seeming lost in his own thoughts and Garcia watched his every expression as he drove. Garcia tried her best to profile her friend, and her love, but was for the most part unsuccessful.

Garcia was so happy, that Derek had accepted what he had been told much more easily than either she or Hotch had expected him to. Really they had both expected an argument at the very least, but they hadn't gotten one, which had astonished her and she knew it had Hotch as well, even if he was better at hiding it. When Garcia had asked him why he hadn't acted like she expected him to he had admitted that he'd had feelings for her for a year, but had been denying them. Things had been going so well the last two months Garcia truly hoped to complete the True Mate bond sometime in the very near future, but she knew that the decision had to be Derek's, as he had to decide if he was willing to risk losing her in some way, whether that was giving birth, or because she was in an accident or any other way, or if he was just going to never get seriously involved in a relationship because of that fear. The two of them had talked a lot about just about everything and Garcia knew that the two of them together had worked out at least some of his fears and hers as well, but she really didn't see the difference of than being friends or of them being lovers as one of them could lose the other either way.

"Here we are," Morgan said and Garcia blinked for she had been so deep in thought she hadn't noticed that the car had stopped.

"Oh! I wanted to come here forever!" Garcia exclaimed, "But it's not the kind of place you come by yourself."

"Come on, our reservations are for seven," Morgan said.

Morgan helped his date out of the car and then arm and arm they strolled to the door of the restaurant which Morgan opened for her.

"My aren't you my handsome knight in black," Garcia teased him playfully.

"Your wish is my command, my lady," Morgan said bowing gallantly, ushering her into the restaurant.

"Do you have a reservation, sir, ma'am?" asked the maître d.

"We do, under Morgan," Morgan answered politely.

"Yes, Mr. Morgan, your table will be ready in a few minutes, if you would please be seated."

Garcia and Morgan took a seat on the bench off to the side and waited patiently.

"This is really nice, Derek," Garcia told mate looking around. The lighting was dim, but on purpose, because candlelight was used to create a romantic atmosphere.

"I wanted to do something out of the ordinary," Morgan told her.

"Well, you succeeded in that endeavour," Garcia said kissed Morgan's cheek.

The two of them casually chatted until the maître d came announced that their table was ready less than 10 minutes later and they were led to a nice table over in the corner and they were given two menus to pursue before the waiter left them.

It didn't take anytime for the two of them to decide what they wanted and while they waited for the waiter to come back they chatted casually just like they have been doing earlier

"So are you going to tell me why you got a reservation at this very nice restaurant?" asked Garcia. "I mean I know it's not easy for you to make a reservation commitment, since we both can be called into work at any time."

"You're worth it," Morgan told his date, "and no I'm not going to tell you as that would spoil the surprise."

Garcia pouted, but gave up when Morgan refused to change his mind, even though his mate's pout was doing pleasant things to his insides. A few minutes later their waiter appeared and they placed their orders. Once the waiter had left again they held hands under the table and got lost in their own little world where everything else except the two of them faded.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	10. Chapter 10

Several hours later

Garcia couldn't believe that Morgan had actually proposed. She had known he was planning something, but had been truly shocked when he had taken a ring box out of his pocket and proposed to her right in the middle of desert. She had been in the daze when she'd accepted, because she figured it would be another few months at least before Morgan was ready to make a commitment to more then dating, but his little speech, had put her fears too rest as he told her that he was ready to commit and make their relationship a permanent one, but that it would have to wait until the weekend, since there was no telling when they'd be called into work.

Garcia could wait, she been waiting two years after all and a few more days hardly meant anything, although the lioness in her violently disagreed.

The lioness within her chest purred in anticipation of what was going to happen in just two days since this was late Wednesday. Morgan said the reason that he didn't want to have sex right this minute was that he wanted to take his time and didn't want their making love to be rushed and Garcia could definitely agree with that idea, as she intended to keep her mate in bed for as long as was feasible.

Garcia sighed happily, as Morgan kissed her on the lips and bid her goodbye, saying that he would see her at work in the morning.

Garcia went to bed, but she was so happy, that it took her forever to actually fall asleep and when she finally did all her dreams were centered around a certain dark-skinned knight, who was indeed her dream man.

"How are you doing this morning, baby girl?" Morgan asked Garcia as soon she had come in for the day. It was the morning after their rather spectacular date and Garcia had woken up sure she had been dreaming about her mate's proposal, but when she had seen the ring on her finger she had known instantly that it hadn't been a dream after all and had squealed happily.

She had gotten ready much faster than she normally did as she wanted to get into work and give her mate a big, slopping kiss on the lips.

"I'm so happy I could burst," Garcia told him kissing Morgan quickly on the lips.

"So am I," Morgan told her with a smile returning the kiss. "I can hardly wait for this weekend, so I really hope we don't get called out of town."

"Believe me, I'm praying that doesn't happen either," Garcia said fervently. "Let's not tempt the fates though and not mention it again."

"I'm not sure I believe in the fates or at least I knew I didn't before you set me straight. I need to call my mama and tell her about the engagement. You know she's going want to plan a big wedding for us."

"Talk her out of it," Garcia told Morgan.

"You don't know my mama if you really believe you can talk her out something like this. She's been wanting me to marry for years, settle down have a few children, and before now I've avoided doing that like the plague."

"That's been obvious ever since I've known you," Garcia teased him causing Morgan to blush because he knew his baby girl was right. "Tell her we're going to go through the Shifter version of the ceremony and that doesn't need an audience. Tell her we'll come up to visit her in Chicago as soon as we can."

"That might just placate her," Morgan said thoughtfully, "but she will probably still insist on at least a small simple ceremony, with her and my sisters and my Aunt Yvonne in attendance. I'm warning you now that once she gets an in idea in her head, it's very hard to persuade her to drop it. She'll pull the mother card and say that she would be so happy to see us tie the knot."

"Well, if that happens I suppose we could do a simple civil ceremony at the courthouse," Garcia said. "It's not like some Shifters don't have two ceremonies, one privately that bonds two True Mates even tighter together and one publicly for family and friends."

"Hotch and Reid didn't," Morgan pointed out.

"Yes, well, it's different for them because they're both male and there's usually no children involved," Garcia said cryptically.

Morgan didn't comment, as he knew there were cameras in Garcia's office and all over the building and so this was not the place to discuss such private things, besides, people could still walk in on them and hear their conversation.

"I had better go, baby," Morgan said kissing her on the forehead. "I'll pick you up for lunch and we can go somewhere just two of us, well, so long as we're not on the jet flying somewhere."

"Sounds good," Garcia agreed. "I'll see you for lunch if you are still here."

Morgan said goodbye and headed for the bullpen in the BAU where he was immediately congratulated on his engagement.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

The whole team congratulated Morgan and Garcia, but when Hotch heard he looked smug, although he wouldn't tell the others what he was smirking about. What he was smirking about was that Spencer had been absolutely correct and it was only two months later before Morgan and Garcia were officially engaged, although he didn't believe that they had gone through the wedding ritual as of yet, as they just didn't have that afterglow of happiness. Hotch suspected though that so long as the team weren't gone on a case when Friday rolled around it would happen then.

He would be very surprised if Morgan and Garcia didn't come into work Monday looking all lovey-dovey and have trouble concentrating for at least the first few months, just as he and Spencer had back when their relationship had first begun.

At least Garcia looked much happier now, then she had for months actually and that made Hotch happy, as he'd much rather have Garcia her usual, cheerful outrageous and upbeat self, then trying to hide how sad and despondent she was behind a facade of her usual cheerfulness and it had been a facade, although no one that didn't know her very well would have been able to tell. He would also be very surprised if Garcia wasn't pregnant after this week with at least twins. The only sure way to absolutely prevent pregnancy was for Morgan to use a condom and he couldn't see that happening, as either they would get so lost in passion like he and Spencer often did and forget, even if they thought of it beforehand or just not think of it at all. Of course, he and Spencer would never have gotten pregnant if not for those spells, but it was different for Morgan and Garcia because they were a male and female and not two males. Well, it wouldn't be long before he knew if he had been right or not.

"You look like the cat that got the canary," Rossi commented to his friend entering Hotch's office without bothering to knock, "and a bowl of cream as well."

Hotch glared at the older man, but Rossi ignored the look and finally Hotch sighed.

"What do you want, Dave?" Hotch asked in annoyance. "Can't you see I'm busy here trying to keep up with all this paperwork?"

"Actually you look extremely smug at the moment," Rossi said undeterred.

"It's none of your business, Dave," Hotch said firmly.

Rossi simply glared at him saying nothing, but then he didn't have to and Hotch sighed again.

"Alright, fine," Hotch sighed for a third time giving in. "Spencer predicted that it would only be two months at most before Morgan finally got his head out of his ass and proposed to Garcia. You see a couple of months ago Garcia came to me and asked from my help with a Shifter problem and I made an educated guess that Morgan was her True Mate, simply because the two of them are so close and flirt constantly. There was no way that Garcia would have come to me if it wasn't something like that or if she wasn't getting desperate. Once a Shifter finds their True Mate they can only go so long with that bond unacknowledged, and that Garcia held out for two years really is at least a minor miracle. She asked me to help out and really all she wanted was for me to be present when she told him about the bond, because Morgan will listen to me, since I'm his boss when he won't listen to anybody else. All she wanted was for me to stop him from walking away and making a terrible mistake if it came to that."

"Alright, I always thought that Morgan and Garcia belonged together, with the way they act around each other," Rossi admitted. "However, I'm still astonished that she came do you to help help with her problem."

"Well, you have to remember I'm the only other Shifter on the team so I'm the only one that can really understand what she was going through," Hotch said and Rossi nodded. "Garcia was actually telling me that she was planning on leaving the team if Morgan didn't come around soon and I didn't want that to happen so I had to help out. Besides, in a way she is family now as are you or JJ or even Morgan as you are all godparents to at least one of our children."

"Kitten actually talked about leaving?" Rossi sputtered and Hotch nodded solemnly.

"I wouldn't have blamed her in the least if that had occurred, for to continue to be around your True Mate every day with that bond undeclared is torture and there is no way that Garcia could put up with it for who knows how many years. That she put up with being around Morgan for as long as she did and be her usual cheerful self is a testament to her strength of character, although I'm sure it helped that he was gone so much with the team, but eventually everybody reaches the end of what they can take and Garcia had reached hers."

"Well, I'm glad you agreed to help out then," Rossi said, which was the understatement of the decade and probably the century, "as she makes our jobs just a little bit better with her banter and upbeat attitude."

"That she does and she's also the best technical analysis I've ever know and I would have hated to lose her, but would have understood her decision if it had actually happened," Hotch agreed. "However, I suspect that the rest of the team would have had Morgan's head on a pike if it actually happened, particularly JJ, because she and Garcia are pretty close and as for Morgan, well, he probably would have begged her to come back. However, even if he managed to get in contact with her and bring her back there would have been a lot of heartache involved that would've made it even harder for the two of them to actually become a couple, so let's just be glad that Morgan saw sense and didn't dig in his heels and refuse to acknowledge her feelings for him. Actually, it wasn't really that hard to talk Morgan around once we made him realize that he was hurting the person he was closest to on the team. Morgan even admitted that he had started to develop feelings for her, but that he been pushing them down because he figured that Garcia wouldn't be interested in more than a platonic friendship and also because of bureau regulations."

"For such a smart man, Morgan can be incredibly dense," Rossi said and Hotch chuckled in agreement.

"Oh, he had a reason for not acknowledging his feelings, but I'll let Morgan tell you if he feels like it. In any case, I'll be very surprised if they aren't planning on completing the mating bond this weekend, so long as we aren't gone for work and I'll also be astonished if Garcia isn't pregnant after that."

"Because Shifters, for the most part, are incredibly fertile," Rossi quoted and Hotch nodded in agreement.

"Just look at me and Spencer after all, even if I know normally we would be over have children naturally, but really what I mean is we've had one set of sextuplets, and another set of quadruplets."

"I'm still astonished at what you told me about magic," Rossi said. "I can now understand why you have never invited any of the team, even me over to your place."

"Well, actually it's a muggle house," Hotch said, "which basically means it has electricity and other modern conveniences. Really, the only reason we never invited you over for dinner or something is that we've been so happy with just our own company, except at Christmas and in the summer when Spencer's siblings are home from boarding school, well, at least for the ones that are still in school and haven't graduated. It's just that Spencer I enjoy our private time, and we get so little of it with me gone so much and him working that we treasure what we do get, as sometimes alone time is very scarce."

Slowly Rossi nodded, as he could certainly understand where both Hotch and Spencer were coming from.

"Spencer and I will make sure to invite you and the rest of the team over for dinner sometime soon," Hotch promised. "Spencer and I have been together for nearly 4 years as hard, as that is for me to believe, since both of us have been so happy for all that time. Besides, I might point out if you had accepted the dinner invitation, the night we invited the rest of the team over you would have seen the house. Yes, I know you had plans, but my point was that you missed an opportunity."

"I'll try to make sure I'm free next time," Rossi promised.

"You do that," Hotch said smirking at him.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Hotch arrived home at 5:30 and when Spencer wasn't there to greet him he knew his lover had probably gotten himself involved in some sort of research project in the library, either that or he was spending time with their pups upstairs in the nursery. His mate tended to lose track of time in both of those situations as he enjoyed burying himself in research, which never took as long as it did for other people since he read so fast or in spending time with the children.

Hotch had made the decision to surprise his mate with dinner out and so he had gotten reservations for 7:30 at a nice place. Personally, Hotch felt that both he and Spencer deserved this evening out, especially his mate because he put up with him being gone so much.

Their lovemaking once he got home after being gone for several days always lasted for hours as most the time Spencer attacked him as soon as he came in the door, which he didn't mind at all because no matter how tired he was he was never too tired for that particular activity and if he ever did get to the point that he would rather sleep instead of make love or to put it more crudely fuck like an animal, because that's basically what Shifters were, with the man he adored then somebody might as well shoot him and bury his body.

Hotch entered the library, which was on the ground level and had thousands of books and had grown considerably in four years that he and Spencer had been together, as his partner was always buying more. Just as Hotch had suspected he found Spencer in the library his head buried in a book, several other books stacked beside him on a table by the couch he was lounging comfortably on.

Spencer looked up at the sound of footsteps and his whole face lit up when he saw who is was.

Spencer immediately put his book aside, and rose to his feet and walked into his mate's arms.

"I had no idea it was so late," Spencer cooed, burying his face in Hotch neck, so he could take in the scent that was emanating from his mate's very skin.

"Of course, you didn't because once you get involved in some sort of research project or are just reading you lose all track of time," Hotch teased him and Spencer blushed knowing it was true.

"Still, I'm glad to have you home," Spencer said hugging Hotch's body close to him.

"Trust me I'm glad to be home since doing paperwork can be very tedious," Hotch said, hugging him back.

"I'm certainly glad I don't have to fill out as much paperwork as you do," Spencer said.

"At least one of us is lucky in that respect," Hotch said kissing the top of his mate's head tenderly. "In any case, you need to go get dressed in something casual, but nice, as I'm taking you out to dinner. I made reservations from the office."

"Alright," Spencer agreed, as he felt that he and Aaron needed some time out of the house and away from their work to just relax. The two of them couldn't stop making plans for a nice evening out just because Aaron was called into work or had to cancel because he was called in.

"What you're not going argue?" Hotch teased him, as that had been known to happen in the past.

"No," Spencer told him shortly. "I probably need this night out as much as you do, because even though I'm normally a very indoor person, I do need to get out of the house to somewhere besides, work occasionally. Besides, I'm starved and a nice dinner out is the perfect solution to get my stomach fed and spend some time with you, away from the possible interruption of the children as much as I love them."

"Yes, I love them too, but you and me do need some time for just ourselves sometimes," Hotch said with a nod. "We can't simply stop trying to go out to dinner or the movies or stop planning an evening out with friends, because we work so much or because we have children. Other people do these things, even if they do have a family or they work a great deal, but we have gotten better about balancing these things."

"It just takes a lot of practice, which we seem to get plenty of," Spencer said with a nod.

"That we do," Hotch to agreed. "In any case, get dressed, I'll do the same our reservations are for 7:30."

"Alright," Spencer said with a smile. "I was sure you'd want to make love as soon as you got home, but this is a rather pleasant surprise."

"As pleasurable as that always is, our relationship is about more then us staying in bed and making love all the time," Hotch told Spencer who nodded for he was in complete agreement. "Yes, I would like nothing more then to fuck you senseless, but you aren't my personal sex slave and we need to do other things, like try to go out for dinner sometimes even if I know our schedules are rather uncertain most of the time, especially mine. I know you love me and that you love having sex with me, but still our relationship is about so much more."

"Yes, I agree," Spencer said, kissing Hotch's cheek by way of agreement.

"Besides, we haven't been out in awhile, because I've been gone so much, so this is something that we both need because I know you're probably tired of being cooped up in the house and going nowhere except to work."

"And the bookstore," Spencer said gesturing at the books on end table.

"Alright, and the bookstore," Hotch said with a roll of his eyes and an amused grin. "You knew what I meant," Hotch accused him and Reid grinned.

"I did, but that was fun," Spencer said, "but you're right I haven't really been going many places except to work or back here, not in at least the last few months anyway."

"And I've been gone for work so much that we haven't been able to make plans to go anywhere, not without a chance of being interrupted anyway," Hotch said.

"I'll go get ready and you need to shower and change clothes to," Spencer said. "I can get back to my research later while you're at work or gone to some city that needs yours and the team's help."

"While you are in the shower I'll go up and see the children," Hotch said. "Once you're out of the shower I'll take mine or maybe I can use one of the other bathrooms for my shower, which might be a better solution."

"Sounds like a plan," Spencer said agreeably giving his mate another kiss on the lips trying his best to not let it get out of hand.

"You had better stop that or all my plans for dinner out are going to go out the window," Hotch mock scolded him with a smile.

"What can I say you're hard to resist," Spencer said with a grin.

What Spencer said was true, as his mate was indeed a man that was hard to resist just ripping the clothes off and dragging him upstairs to fuck senseless.

"So are you," Hotch said with a little laugh pushing Spencer in the direction of the library door. "Go on get your shower, get dressed and I'll do the same."

Spencer kissed his mate one final time before heading for the library doors so he could go upstairs and get ready for a nice dinner out with the man he loved with every fiber of his being.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"This is really nice, Aaron," Spencer said, as he looked around the restaurant.

The restaurant that Hotch had a gotten reservation at now had chandeliers on the ceiling, spaced evenly, and they were apparently filled with very low light bulbs, like 30 watt or less, which made the restaurant dim, but also gave it a romantic atmosphere. They were also candles on each table and room for two people as this was a restaurant for couples and not families.

Spencer looked around again and noticed that that was several other couples that were either both men or both women, along with women and men and that the three couple types were being treated equally.

"Yes, it is," said Hotch having noticed the same things about the place that his mate had. "I'll have to thank Dave, as he recommended it. He didn't say so, but I get the impression that he brought one or more of his dates here in years past, maybe even one of his past wives."

"He probably did," Reid said knowing that David Rossi like Morgan was a ladies man, or like Morgan used to be before he and Garcia had finally given into their feelings for each other, Spencer corrected himself smiling mentally.

The two men studied the menu, Spencer having made his choice after reading the menu in less than a minute.

Slowly over the next hour the two of them completely relaxed, and chatted about inconsequential things until their food arrived and then they both devoted themselves to a fine meal.

"You were right," Spencer said, as he took his mate's hand on top of the table, "We did need this evening out."

"Yes, we did," Hotch agreed squeezing Spencer's hand in his own as a way of saying I love you silently.

Spencer immediately squeezed his mate's hands back acknowledging the sentiment and returning the same.

"We'll have to do this again," Hotch said, "the food I superb and so is the atmosphere."

"Yes, we'll definitely have to come here again," Spencer agreed.

"Oh, by the way I meant to tell you but I forgot, Garcia came in the work this morning wearing a brand-new engagement ring."

"So Morgan finally proposed?" asked Spencer in pleased surprise.

"He did," Hotch confirmed smirking

"Have they completed the bond yet?" asked Spencer.

"No, I can tell thy haven't yet," Hotch said calmly, "I suspect they'll do that this weekend so long as Morgan isn't out-of-town with the team. Really they look like two people who are anticipating doing something that they'll both immensely enjoy, but haven't actually done yet. I'll be utterly astonished if Garcia isn't pregnant after that since as you know most Shifters are incredibly fertile, and most methods that Normals use to stop themselves from getting pregnant don't work on Shifters or at least not for very long. The only way I can see Garcia not being pregnant, by Monday is if Morgan remembers to use a condom and somehow I doubt that will occur."

"Probably not," Spencer agreed smirking, as he thought about that. "I still remember quite vividly how it was for you and me during our first time and if I had been female…"

Spencer didn't say anymore, since he didn't want to be overheard, but Hotch immediately understood what wasn't being said.

What Spencer hadn't said was that if he had been female, instead of male he would have been pregnant, by the time the two of them had come up for air because they had probably made love at least 20 or 30 times between Friday evening to very early Monday morning.

"Yes, you would have been pregnant with a whole litter of pups after I got done with you, since we made love from when I got off work on Friday until Monday morning, as you told me you were ready to take our relationship to the next level if you had indeed been female..." Hotch said with a wink and a gleam in his eyes, as he to remembered that time.

Spencer blushed, but agreed.

"It is a decision I have never regretted," Spencer said squeezing his mate's hand again. "Not for a single instance, even though at that point we hadn't known each other for very long. I believe I started falling in love with you that first night when you rescued my sister from her ex-boyfriend and then brought her home. I could see that you were genuinely concerned about her and that you cared about her enough to recommend that she get some pepper spray or mace. You didn't realize at that time that all my siblings were well able to defend themselves thanks to their martial arts training. Liya told me later that if Alex had dared laid another hand on her she would've done more than kick him in the crouch and punch him in the nose. She was planning to use several moves she had learned in her martial arts class on him until you came along and rescued her."

"I'm glad you have never regretted your decision as I certainly never have," Hotch said softly leaning over to kiss his mate on the cheek. "You are everything I could want in a mate, you are intelligent, compassionate, kind, gentle, loving, passionate man and I thank my lucky stars every day that I met you."

"I do the same," Spencer assured him softly with a smile.

The two men fell silent and finished their dinner in comfortable companionship before the waiter appeared and Hotch paid the check, which Spencer didn't bother to protest, as he knew Aaron would insist on paying the tab since he was the one that had invited him to dinner.

"Let's go home for I have plans for us tonight," Hotch said with a lustful gleam in his dark brown eyes. Hotch made sure that Spencer was looking directly at him when he allowed his fangs to drop just a little making his mate gulp a little nervously and lick his bottom lip, which was an incredibly sensual gesture that made the wolf in Hotch want nothing more then to take Spencer home and make love him, for at least the next 24 hours or longer. He knew though that the two of them would have to take breaks in between and spend some time with their pups, as that was the price you paid for having little lives depending on you. If not being able to get as much alone time as you would like was the price of having pups then it was a price he would willingly pay again without hesitation and he knew that Spencer agreed.

"Yes," Spencer said his voice steady taking Hotch hand in his and giving him a passion filled look causing Hotch's cock to stand at attention as desire and shot straight to his groin, "Let's go home."

"Yes, definitely lets go home," Hotch agreed with a rather lecherous smirk. "You and me have an appointment with our nice comfortable bed and I won't be letting you go to sleep anytime in the near future."

Spencer gave his mate a grin that told Hotch all he needed to know about how that had been Spencer's plan all along and one that he would be more than happy to comply with.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Well, you're certainly wearing a smile this morning," JJ told a friend as Garcia knocked on the doorframe of JJ's office.

It was Monday morning and the team have not been called out on case.

"Why shouldn't I be?" Garcia asked her friend as she entered JJ's office. "Derek has finally acknowledged that he does love me and has for a long time, but just would never admit it, until I finally confronted him about it."

"Ah, you and he completed the bond over the weekend then," JJ said.

"We did," Garcia said with a bright smile

"Are you going to be like Hotch now? Always in a good mood?" asked JJ with a raised eyebrow.

"Wouldn't you be if the person that you've loved for two years had finally acknowledged that he loves you too?" asked Garcia. "That the two of us work together is just an added bonus."

"Yeah, I would," JJ admitted.

"Especially when you are afraid that he never would and if it hadn't been for Hotch's interference at my request, I probably would've left the FBI entirely," Garcia said.

"That's true," JJ agreed. "Morgan always was a stubborn man."

"I love him to death, but I agree," Garcia said, giggling.

"So where is Morgan this morning?" asked JJ.

"He just stopped by our favorite coffee place to get our morning pick-me-ups and some pastries. He should be here anytime now," Garcia answered.

"So do you think you're pregnant after this weekend?" asked JJ as the two women sat in her office.

"I'll be very surprised if I'm not, considering," Garcia said with another bright happy smile.

"Considering that Morgan didn't use any protection," JJ suggested with a little smirk.

"We both mutually decided that we wanted children right away since I'm not getting any younger," Garcia told JJ who nodded. "We both know that multiples are common with Shifters, so I won't be surprised if I am carrying at least twins and it'll probably be more."

"Yes, believe me, I'm well aware, that Shifters rarely have single birth, especially not if they're making love to their True Mate," JJ said. "You'll let me know as soon as you know, right?"

"Of course," Garcia agreed patting her tummy, "since you are my best female friend."

The two woman continued to giggle together for awhile longer, before they mutually decided they had better get back to work.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Part Two

Five years later

Hotch's office phone rang and he immediately picked it up. "Yes?"

Hotch listened for a moment and then said, "Show her up."

Hotch put down the phone and steepled his fingers, as he thought about what guard at the front desk had told him.

The guard had said that there was this strange woman who said her name was Susan Bones and that she needed to see him right away but refused to give a reason. The guard had also said that she had a very distinct British accent and Hotch wondered what somebody from Britain was doing here, oh, not in the States, but here at Quantico and why she wanted to see him.

Hotch had agreed to see her more out of curiosity than anything else, but if she found out that she was wasting his time she would be thrown out of the building immediately and warned not to come back.

There was a knock on the door and Hotch told whoever was outside to enter.

"I'm sorry to disturb you Agent Hotchner, but this is the young lady that insisted she had to see you."

"You may go now, Gerald. Thank you," Hotch told the man who nodded gratefully, headed towards the elevator at speed.

"Well, Mrs. Bones, why don't you have a seat and tell me why you insisted on seeing me."

The lady in question did so putting her hands in her lap and Hotch immediately knew she was nervous. The young lady now sitting in one of his chairs in front of his desk looked around Spencer's age give or take a year or two. She was a very pretty young lady with strawberry blond hair, that just brushed her shoulders and blue eyes. She was also about average height at 5'5' maybe 5'6' and fairly slender.

"I'm really sorry to disturb Agent Hotchner," Susan told the intimidating man. This is for Harry, Susan told herself silently. You can do this for your husband and your children. "As I told the guard my name is Susan Bones, but what I didn't tell him is my name is also Susan Potter, Bones is my maiden name."

"Can you prove what you say Mrs. Potter?" asked Hotch with a raised eyebrow and Susan nodded. Susan riffled through her purse for a moment and brought forth several neatly folded papers.

"You see I had a friend of mine do some research into my husband Harry's family tree, because he was the last remaining Potter, until we got married and had children since his parents were murdered when he was a baby."

Hotch read through the papers carefully and realized that if this was correct Harry Potter and his family were related to Spencer, although it was a very distant connection, which was to be expected really, since the family lines had separated at least six hundred years ago according to his mate who had done considerable research on the subject.

"You see our anniversary is coming up, we've been married ten years now and we have three beautiful children, however, Harry knows so little about his family that I had a friend of ours start doing some research into his family tree to see if he had any living relatives. He has none in England, except some who are very distantly related because they married a Potter centuries ago. However, imagine Hermione's and my surprise, when she finished going through all the old records she could find that there was a line of Potters that had moved to America centuries ago. It took quite sometime to trace Harry's family for so long considering that a lot of the files Hermione was going through were mere scraps or so faded that they were nearly impossible to read. It was a slow, time consuming process, but Hermione managed to piece together more of Harry's past then I thought she could."

"How did you even know where to start?" asked Hotch.

"Well…" Susan began then paused.

"Don't worry Mrs. Potter I know all about magic," Hotch told her immediately catching on to what Susan was trying to find a way to tell him. "As it happens Spencer also has magic and since we are mated, I had to know as well."

Susan looked startled for a moment, then grateful. "That makes things easier. Since I wanted to keep this as a surprise for Harry, I had to go through the Potter vault at Gringotts to see if I could find any old diaries that mentioned any possible leads, and since I can't take them out without Harry's permission and Hermione can't enter since she isn't related, at least not without Harry's permission, I had to read through those diaries at a really slow pace, as I had to do it while Harry was away because of his Auror duties. In any case, one of the diaries from about 600 years ago belonging to..."

"Archie Potter?" asked Hotch shrewdly sure he was right.

"Well, yes," Susan admitted. "He mentioned in one of his last diaries about how he had to get away from stuffy old Britain, because everybody treated him like he was an invalid, except his own family, just because he didn't inherit the family magic. Squibs, those without magic, weren't really accepted back then, although it's a little bit better today, so although I know it's hard to understand he wanted to get away from all the people that knew him and his family. Thanks to that diary it gave Hermione a place to start, although I still don't know how Hermione managed to do it. It took her more than a year, but once my friend sinks her teeth into something she doesn't give up until she has the answer she wants and since she loves Harry like a brother she was doubly determined."

That sounds like somebody else I know, Hotch thought.

"Also in the vault was a book, that really didn't look like much as it was way to thin to contain much information, but when I opened it, it turned out it was a magical family tree that automatically updated. How I wished that I had found that first instead of reading all those old dusty diaries, but the stuff in Harry's vault isn't exactly organized in any sort of logical or chronological order, and unless you're into treasure hunting... In any case, that book turned out to be a godsend, since as I said it was magically self-updating."

"It listed Spencer and his siblings, and me, because the two of us are married," Hotch guessed.

Susan nodded. "Yes, it did along with other extinct branches of Harry's family, and even a few that are still active and alive, although that's mostly here in America. The only thing the registry did was give the names, and the dates and so Hermione had to look up all the information on the internet."

"So you looked up Spencer through me," Hotch said and Susan nodded.

"Which is why I am here. I was really hoping you would be receptive to me just showing up, but Hermione warned me that if I phoned you in advance you would likely have me barred from the building, as it was likely you would believe I was some sort of crackpot and I wouldn't have been able to blame you if you had, because I know very well how the story sounds."

"So you're here because you want to meet Spencer?" Hotch asked rhetorically, but Susan nodded anyway.

"I not only want to meet him, I want you and Spencer and your family to come to England to meet my husband and children. Harry has always been so melancholy and sad that he doesn't have any family that he knows besides us, and he would be absolutely ecstatic and over the moon if he discovered he had relatives he never knew about. To Harry family is everything and he's been so badly treated by various people that either look at him as some sort of hero or as someone who just wants attention, when really all Harry wants, is to be left alone to live his life quietly with me and our family and friends."

Hotch studied her for a long minute, but decided she was telling nothing but the truth and so he came to a decision.

"I'll tell you what Mrs. Potter, I'm willing to trust you for the moment as I am a profiler. Do you know what that means?"

"Not really," Susan admitted honestly.

"All it means is I'm good at reading body language, facial expressions and other various forms of signals that the human body tends to give off unconsciously. It is very easy to tell when someone is nervous for example as they tend to fidget because they're uncomfortable. Also people, who don't look you in the eye when they're telling you something and look down at their feet or their lap are usually lying. Profiling is all about studying human behavior, as people tend to act in a certain way depending on the situation. In any case, I know you are being truthful with me and I'm truly astonished that you went to all this trouble, for your husband. You must love him a great deal."

"I do," Susan said softly. "I'll have to tell you sometime, all about the war over there and how he saved the life of my only living family at that time, my Aunt Amelia. Let's just say the war decimated a lot of wizarding families to where quite a few of them are hanging by threads, and some were wiped out entirely. My parents were killed when I was barely 2 and if it hadn't been for my aunt I don't know what would've happened to me. In any case, we started to date after our graduation from Hogwarts and got married about a year later."

Hotch could read in Susan's body language and in her eyes that the loss of her parents was still a very open wound for her and he couldn't blame her for that at all.

"Alright, Mrs. Potter, I will give you our address, and I'll call Spencer to let him know you're coming. Unfortunately, I can't leave just now, but I will see you about 5:30."

"Thank you for listening and believing me," Susan told Hotch. "My Aunt Amelia understood me wanting to find if Harry had any other family, but she warned me if I wouldn't be as easy as I believed."

"How long are you here for?" Hotch asked.

"Well, Harry's on another mission for his job, and he wasn't sure how long he'd be gone, so I might have anywhere from a couple of days to a week," Susan answered.

Hotch wrote down his address and handed it to Susan.

"Will you be able to find it okay?" asked Hotch in sudden concern.

"Yes, I know more about muggles, then most pureblooded magical folks, my Aunt Amelia made sure of that," Susan answered. "My aunt believed that I would be able to go anywhere I wanted and not stick out if I blended in better then the average witch or wizard in the muggle world. I'm afraid the wizarding world of England is really stuck in the past and they're way behind the rest of the world in certain areas. I can tell you more later if you're interested, but I shouldn't interrupt your work any longer."

"I'll call Spencer and let him know you're coming," Hotch said.

"Thank you," Susan said sticking out her hand which Hotch shook politely.

Hotch escorted Susan out of his office and into the elevator before heading back to try to get as much paperwork done as he could.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	11. Chapter 11

Spencer opened the door immediately when a very pretty young lady with strawberry blond hair got out of a cab and came up the walkway at a fast pace as he had been waiting at the window. Aaron had called him, and told him all about this young lady's visit and that she seemed genuine.

"Welcome to my home," Spencer greeted her. "I'm Spencer Reid."

"Thank you," Susan said politely shaking the young man's hand, noticing that he looked around her age give or take a year or two.

"Why don't you come in and sit down?" asked Spencer ushering Susan inside.

Susan did so when looked around as she walked down a short hallway.

"I'm very sorry to disturb you and your partner like this," Susan explained as soon as she sat down in one of the comfortable looking chairs.

"Aaron did say, that the two of us are related through marriage and that he believed you were being honest," Spencer said, "and if he hadn't he never would have sent you to me, since he is very protective, even though I'm perfectly able to take care of myself."

Now that definitely sounds like Harry, Susan thought.

"I was being completely truthful," Susan promised taking a sip of tea as the tea server had already been waiting when she arrived. "As I told, your partner, Harry has absolutely no idea, what I've been doing for more than a year, though it's been mostly Hermione doing the research, not me, since she's so good at that kind of thing. Harry has been distracted for months now or he would've been suspicious of both Hermione and I because he can't leave a mystery alone, so I'm actually grateful that he's had all these missions for his job, but when he's gone, sometimes it's just for a few days other times for a week. Both Hermione and I are rather crappy liars, so he would know if we weren't being completely honest if he happened to get suspicious."

"So are you going to tell me exactly why you went to all this trouble to find me?" asked Spencer.

"Well, as I told Agent Hotchner, Harry's parents were killed, back when he was a baby and he was placed with his mother's sister who hated magic because she didn't have any. I won't go into details because it's not my story to tell, but lets just say that his childhood wasn't exactly ideal, because it wasn't. To Harry family is important and he doesn't really have any that is related to him, except his children and so both Hermione and I wanted to see if we could find if he had any relatives."

"Alright, I can certainly understand the desire to see if your husband has a family," said Spencer believing like Aaron had that this Susan Bones Potter was being honest. "So Susan why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?"

"Well, that isn't really much to tell," Susan said, "or to be more accurate there are some things I don't want to have to repeat so I would prefer waiting until Agent Hotchner gets home."

"Well, I can certainly understand that as well," Spencer admitted. "You mentioned to Aaron that there was some kind of war a few years back."

"Oh, there was and a lot of good people lost their lives," Susan said grimacing. "In any case, as I told Agent Hotchner, I wasn't quite two when my parents were murdered and my Aunt Amelia took me in. Most of the Bones were killed in the first war, but I'll go more into that later."

The two chatted for a few minutes, and Spencer told Susan some of his childhood while Susan did the same.

"So you and Harry went to Hogwarts?" asked Spencer.

"Yes, we did, I was a Hufflepuff and Harry was a Gryffindor and back then the different houses weren't exactly encouraged to intermingle. Some students made friends across house lines, but I'm sad to say that most of us kept to our own housemates."

The two talked for a few more minutes and then Susan asked a question she had been wondering about.

"I hope I'm not being too nosy, but I'm extremely curious how you and Agent Hotchner had children? Ones that are yours by blood? I hope I'm not offending you anything I was just curious when I saw their names in that little book with the family tree I found."

"It's okay, I take no offense," Spencer promised her, "as a lot of people ask me that very same question. The answer is that there was a couple spells invented nearly 20 years ago now, that allows a man to get pregnant, where he grows a womb overnight and develops all the other things that a female has in order to give birth. The birth and pregnancy are perfectly natural, and the only difference really is I had a cesarean section each time, because it was multiples instead of just a single baby."

"That really is fascinating. We don't have anything like it in England that I know of anyway," Susan said enthralled. "Why would someone which come up with those types of spells?"

"Well, there are a lot of reasons," Spencer told her. "As I'm sure you're aware some women have trouble getting pregnant or carrying that pregnancy to term, a female could have a bad heart for example and pregnancy does put a strain on that particular organ. Really there are a lot of reason why a female can't get pregnant. The two spells were invented by a man, as I said about 20 years ago and the reason he did so, was because his wife was infertile and they had been turned down for adoption and they really wanted children. It is often said that desperation is the mother of invention and this man was desperate, because he really wanted children of his own and so did his wife."

"So he invented these spells," Susan said slowly. "so that he could be the one to conceive and carry his children to term instead of his wife."

"Exactly," Spencer agreed. "In a husband's and wife's case what they do is extract the female's egg or eggs from her ovaries and then insert them in the man's temporary womb, which develops in the space of 24 hours. The magic involved allows them to develop naturally and when it gets close to the time of the birth, a man temporarily develops a vagina so that he can give birth naturally, but in the case of multiples, especially if its more then twins a c-section is always done, because of the unlikely event that all the babies will be facing the proper direction. It's just safer."

"So you and Agent Hotchner had your 22 children this way?" asked Susan amazed what he was hearing.

"We did, and if you don't know Aaron is a Shifter, a wolf Shifter to be precise and they are known to have multiples, which is how I got pregnant each time with more than one fetus. We are True Mates if you know what that means."

Susan nodded for she did indeed. There had been several Shifters with her at Hogwarts, in various years with her and Harry. The ministry under Cornelius Fudge had tried to ban the Shifters from attending Hogwarts, but had not succeeded, for they were not the same as werewolves as Shifters and could change into their animal forms anytime they pleased and didn't turn into ravaging monsters either on the full moon. Actually they were a lot like Animagus except that this was a natural transformation, as they were born to be able to shift into their animals shape instead of becoming Animagi through transfiguration techniques and potions.

"Yes, Harry and I attended Hogwarts with several of them," Susan said. "The bullies picked on them, but they soon learned to defend themselves and they also made friends who backed them up. I'm sure you know that bullies like to go after a lone target or at least no more than two at one time. In any case, there was a wolf Shifter by the name of Anna Casey, who was in my year and house and we became very good friends along with Hannah Abbott. Let's just say that Anna told us some things about Shifters in general and wolf Shifters in particular."

"So you understand what I saying," Spencer said and Susan nodded

"As much as someone like me can understand since I'm not a Shifter," Susan said wisely. "I know that Shifters along with the veelas are the only two species in this world that have a True Mate and I can't really understand what that means since I am neither one, just simply a witch."

Spencer was impressed, with how wise Susan sounded despite her young years, but then again she was around his age. Besides, being young did not necessarily exclude being wise and if she had been as involved in the war over there as she had indicated that kind of thing could change a person, even if she was only on the fringes of it.

"Well, in any case, both Aaron and I wanted children, and I know we could've tried to adopt and we did discuss that option, but unfortunately, there is still a lot of prejudice against same-sex couples like Aaron and I, though not in the Shifter community. If we had actually tried going that route we probably would've been denied and if we weren't for that reason then we likely would have been, because Aaron is gone so much of the time and I work a great deal as well, even if I have a great deal of money to hire someone. I'm sure that whoever interviewed us would feel that we wouldn't be able to give a child the time and attention that they deserved. Don't misunderstand me, we still would've tried it this option hadn't been available, but luckily, it was and this way at least some of our children will inherit my magic as well as Aaron's wolf shape."

"There is also the fact that I'm sure you wanted babies and not older children," Susan said shrewdly and Spencer blushed letting Susan know she was spot on.

"If adoption had been our only option we would have tried," Spencer told Susan his blush fading, "but luckily, for Aaron and I it wasn't."

"22 is a lot though," Susan said, "There is no way I would ever have that many, especially if I had to carry them since pregnancy isn't for sissies, not even if we had twins or triplets every time. Harry and I would like at least three maybe four more though, but then that will be it."

"Well, having so many children isn't for everyone," Spencer admitted, "but we have a lot of help to look after them, which is why we agreed that having so many was workable. Besides, most of my Potter ancestors at least from my branch of the family have had quite a few children apiece, a lot of them anyway. My mother and father after all had eight, three sets of those being fraternal twins. As for me, thanks to Aaron being a wolf Shifter, I had three sets of sextuplets and one set of quadruplets. In fact the last set of sextuplets are only 11 months old."

"So, would you be willing to meet Harry and our three children?" Susan asked. "I know Harry will be ecstatic to meet you and probably scold both Hermione and I for keeping our little project from him, but after he gets over the shock of learning about relatives he never knew he had he'll be very happy to get to know you, your brothers, sisters and your children."

"Well," Spencer said thinking about it. "I've been thinking for the last few years about trying to track down any family I might have if I could, but something always seems to get in the way of me doing that. You suddenly appearing at Aaron's place of work was something of a shock, especially since I have been considering doing the same thing that you did for at least the last 2 or 3 years, so the answer is yes, I would be willing to meet this Harry, but it will take awhile to make arrangements, take leave from St. Murphy's, and for Aaron to take leave from his job, which he sure does deserve, as he hasn't taken any major time off since before we met. I'll have to talk it over with Aaron before we come to any definite decisions, and also we'll have to make arrangements for all of our children as they can't come with us as there is just is too many of them."

"Why not?" asked Susan genuinely puzzled. "Harry and I have plenty of room I promise you. Harry came into his inheritance when he turned 17 and among that inheritance were several large manor style houses. The house we are living in now is probably a bit bigger than this place."

"Well, even if what you say is true how we get them there?" asked Spencer. "There's no way we can fly on an airplane with that many children, especially as young as they are, Apparating is out of the question, and most of them wouldn't be able to hold onto a Portkey, especially the ones I just gave birth to a few months back."

"So use the Floo," Susan said and Spencer blinked surprise for he had never thought of that. "Even if you have to make a dozen trips it is feasible."

"I never thought of using the Floo," Spencer admitted feeling very sheepish. "I mean I do use it occasionally when I need to take one of the children for their appointment at St. Murphy's, but usually Addison who was my mentor and is now my family's personal healer, is nice enough just to come by the house to give them their checkups. Usually though I just Apparate anywhere I need to go and if Aaron and I are going somewhere in the muggle world we drive. As I said I'll have to discuss it with Aaron, but I'm sure he'll agree. As I said he has some major time off coming and he could take a month if he really wanted to."

The two of them continued to chat and before they knew it, the front door opened and Hotch came into the living room.

Spencer rose to greet him, and the two men embraced tenderly, sharing a long, tender kiss. The two men finally broke apart and Susan who had been watching this reunion with tears in her eyes for she had rarely seen such tender adoration and love displayed. She finally turned her head away and pretended to be paying no attention to the moving scene.

"So how's it going?" Hotch asked and Spencer and Reid immediately knew what Aaron was really asking.

"Everything's going just fine and Susan I would just having a very nice conversation," Spencer replied calmly. "She's been telling me all about her husband Harry and their three children James Sirius, Lily Amelia and Peter Shawn."

"Yes, the older two were named after Harry's parents James and Lily Potter," Susan said, "and the middle name for James is for his godfather Sirius Black, and of course, Lily's middle name is for my aunt. Sirius gets quite tickled every time James's middle name is mentioned, because not only is he very pleased that Harry named his son and daughter after two of his best friends. He often tells us that he that he considered James a brother, so he is also extremely pleased that Harry gave James his name. Remus Lupin his other best friend from his school days often tells him that if he keeps it up he's going to have to just deflate his head, or he's not going to fit through the doorway."

Both Spencer and Hotch chuckled at Susan's story.

"Sirius really can be outrageous sometimes, but he loves Harry and our children so much we forgive him. Our youngest son Peter was named after my father."

"Susan, has invited the whole family to England, to meet Harry and her children and I told her that, even though I would be pleased to meet a relative, I would have to talk it over with you first," Spencer added.

"The whole family?" asked Hotch in astonishment. "How would we get all our children to England? I can see getting on a plane with two or three of them, but not as many as we have. Making travel arrangements with that many children, is a logistical nightmare."

"Actually Susan suggested that we use the Floo and I almost kicked myself for forgetting that it could be used to go someplace that's across the ocean and it really is the easiest way, at least until the children get a few years older."

"I didn't know that the Floo could be used to go places that were so far away. I knew they could be used within the country, but not across the ocean," Hotch said startled.

"They can be, although I've never used ours like that," Reid admitted. "For example the two of us can go have dinner in Paris one night if we really wanted to or anywhere really just as long as we remembered the time difference."

"Well, in that case," Hotch said, "I don't see why not as I know you really want to meet this Harry, that's a relative of yours and so do I. However, before we can do that, arrangements are going to have to be made and that's going to take at least a few days. I'm going to have to put in for leave at work and so are you. We're going to have to gather everything we need, but at least it can be shrunk down, so they can all fit in one trunk, so we won't have a whole lot of luggage. We'll need to make reservations at a hotel," Hotch continued, "and bring Amelia, Harmony and Haven along to help look after them."

Susan was startled when she heard the name Amelia, but then she immediately worked out that this was probably someone that Spencer and Agent Hotchner had hired to help take care of their children, since it would definitely require more than the two of them even if they didn't work.

"Actually I was just telling Spencer that you and all your children can stay with Harry and me," Susan said it a natural pause in the conversation. "Harry's inheritance included quite a few houses and the one we're living in is probably a little bit bigger than this one."

"This one is over 150,000 ft.² from top to bottom, if you include the basement and the attic," Spencer said. "30 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, and on the top floor is the nursery, along with the master suite. Most of the rooms are closed up, because they are not being used, but they can be reopened and cleaned at anytime, when we need them. According to tradition when a child reaches five they are given their own bedroom and our oldest children reached that milestone a couple of years ago."

"That's the way it is in some of the older families in England, even today," Susan said with a nod. "Of course, most families don't have as many children as you do, as most have have maybe 2 or 3. However, I will admit that it's very rare to meet a family as large as yours or someone, that obviously loves children, as it is apparent to me that you two do, as I couldn't see you having 22, if you didn't truly love them, as your first set of sextuplets would have been enough to ensure that the family name lived on."

"Oh, they're are plenty of candidates for that on both sides of the family," Hotch chuckled amused, "if we cared about such things as making sure the family name lived on and Susan neither Spencer or I give a damn about letting our names die out. Besides, neither Spencer's or my family lines is in danger of disappearing, because even if we hadn't been able to have children, we both have numerous, siblings some of whom are married and have children of their own."

"I didn't mean any offense," Susan said. "All I meant was that some of the older families in England care about carrying on their family names to the exclusion of all else and sometimes they don't even care about the children they bring into this world in order to accomplish that."

"None taken," Spencer told her with a smile. "Don't worry about offending us by being blunt or honest, because really we're not that easy upset. Both our jobs require, that we not get mad or offended at every little thing that somebody does, because if we did it we wouldn't be very good at what we do."

Susan sighed relieved.

"In any case, rooms can be added when needed, thanks to magic," Spencer added, "and the house won't look any bigger on the outside, then it does now. Of course, this hasn't had to be done, in quite a long time now, but it is possible it has been used in the past."

"Yes, the house Harry and I live in is definitely bigger, as it has five floors not including the attic and the basement. We have at least 15 bathrooms, and 50 bedroom and it's probably at least a thousand square feet larger."

"That's a big place for just five," Hotch said.

"Yes, well, we are planning to having more children and in fact, I'm pregnant with our fourth one now," Susan said patting her tummy lovingly. "I know you can't tell at the moment, but I'm about three months along."

"Congratulations," Spencer and Hotch said at the same time genuinely happy for Susan.

"Thank you," Susan said blushing a little. "Harry was very happy when I told him the news, as he really does love children and always wished he had brothers and sisters, growing up. Remus and Sirius have said on several occasions that if Harry's parents had lived he would not have been an only child, but that James and Lily never had a chance to even consider having another one, thanks to Voldemort."

"You really do need to tell us everything," Spencer said.

"It's really not my story to tell and you'll have to get to know Harry and get him to tell you exactly what happened during the second wizarding war. I can tell you the small part I played in it, but it won't make any sense until you hear the main story," Susan said.

"So Harry played a major part in the war?" asked Hotch, even though it was really a statement of fact.

"He did," Susan agreed. "It will take a lot to get him to tell you about it, because the memories of it are still very painful for him. A lot of good people were lost, including some people really close to him and it hasn't been that many years since the war ended, a dozen or so."

"So would you like to stay here until we make arrangements? Or do you need to get back home?" asked Spencer.

"Aunt Amelia promised to call me, when Harry comes home," Susan said. "I left the children with her and she was more than happy to have them stay for a few days. She adores them, as for a long time it was just her and me left of our family. My Uncle Edgar and his family, were killed during the first war. He was my Aunt Amelia's older brother, then my parents were killed when I was not quite two and my father, was Aunt Amelia's younger brother. Aunt Amelia is very happy about this new baby to, as she has family again besides, just me and Harry."

"I thought most wizards didn't use things like phones?" asked Hotch. "I know that Spencer and his family does, but he told me that's a rather unusual event."

"Well, it depends on who you're talking about," Susan said. "Some of the old families in England refuse to embrace technology that is rapidly being adapted for wizarding use. However, some people have realized that we must get out of the Stone Age, as a lot of wizarding folks stick out more and more when they're trying to pass as muggles. One of my Aunt Amelia's Aurors who is muggle-born taught her how to use a cellphone years ago, so really I grew up in a mixture of both worlds. Neither Harry or I stay just to the wizarding world, both of us have cellphones, we often go to the movies, or eat in a muggle restaurants, we've even taken some vacations in the muggle world. We both live in a magical house that's true, however, Harry had electricity put in so that we could have a electric lights and many other things that run on them."

"Doesn't magic interfere with electronics?" asked Spencer.

"No, because we've shielded it," Susan told them and Spencer nodded, as this was the answer he had expected.

"I've done the same to this house," Spencer admitted. "It was already wired for electricity, although it had been turned off, because it hadn't been used in so long, but since I know that a great deal of magic interferes with electronics, I shielded everything. Of course, some stuff cannot be shielded as it doesn't work if it is, but most things like a DVD player, or a TV or a computer can be. Besides, I grew up in a perfectly muggle house in Las Vegas and I got used to having modern conveniences, so there was no way I could live the rest of my life without having a TV or a computer. Besides, us American magical people aren't as phobic about muggle electronics as I've heard England is."

"Yes, some of the older families really are phobic about anything that has to do with muggles," Susan admitted, "and unfortunately, they were the ones that had the power. They wanted things to remain, as they were, so they used gold to bribe the people in power. That was before Voldemort was defeated though and a lot of things have changed in the last 12 years. We have an honest Minister of Magic, and he's made quite a few changes."

"I bet you the pureblood faction hates that," Spencer suggested with a grin.

"They do, but they're no longer the ones in power and in fact many of them have life sentences in the wizarding prison Azkaban, for their many crimes during both wizarding wars."

"They got off the first time, didn't they?" Hotch asked sure he was right.

"Yeah, they did, thanks to a corrupt ministry and a great deal of bribery," Susan said. "The current minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt refused to let these people off for a second time and fair and just trials were held, which ended in guilty verdicts."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starving, well, like a wolf, so why don't we order out instead of cooking?" Hotch suggested.

"Sounds good," Spencer agreed. "What kind of food do you like Susan?"

"I'm not too picky," Susan admitted, "I don't like anything that's too spicy, but other than that..."

"Have you ever had Italian?" asked Spencer.

"Yes, because as I said Harry and I go to muggle restaurants all the time, and we've probably tried every type of food imaginable in the years we've been married, so Italian is fine."

"Alright then, I'll order several different things," Spencer said.

"I need to go up and say hello to the children and spend a little time with them," Hotch said. "You can come up with me if you want," Hotch said to Susan. "I know you probably want to meet them."

"I do," Susan admitted, "but I didn't want to suggest that as you barely know me."

"Well, you'll be meeting them soon enough if they do come with us when we come to England," Hotch pointed out, "so now is as good a time as any to introduce you."

"Thank you for doing this, and for believing me. I really appreciate that you're willing to trust me," Susan said.

"Well, I admit, that I never expected a relative of Spencer's to show up at my place of work," Hotch said with a rather wry smile, "but now I'm glad you did, because for one thing Spencer and I never did get a honeymoon, when we officially tied the knot, in the Shifter and magical tradition and although I've been to England, it was many years ago on assignment and I didn't really get a chance to see much of the country. Besides, I'm sure Spencer has told you I'm overdue for a vacation, as we've been together for nine years, and we've never taken a long trip together since we're both workaholics."

"Nine years is a long time with no breaks," Susan said.

"It's been longer than that for both of us as that's just when we met," Spencer said with a shrug. "I think though that both of us need to take a vacation, even if it's only for a week at least every couple of years just the two of us from now on. I know you hate to leave the team shorthanded," Spencer added looking at his mate, "but despite what Strauss thinks we do have a right to a life outside of our jobs. Besides, there is nothing wrong with taking time off occasionally to recharge our batteries, even if we're both workaholics."

"You're right," Hotch admitted. "Rossi's always on me about taking a few days off as he says that I work too much and I've always resisted his obvious hints about needing a break, but we both need to remember that we need private time with just the two of us, no children, no team..."

"No, Strauss," Spencer added, causing Hotch to grin. It wasn't that Hotch didn't agree with Spencer about Strauss being such ass, just that Spencer had hated his boss's guts ever since the first time he had met her. He had met her several times since and he had made it clear that he hated her guts, and Hotch couldn't really blame his mate that at all as he didn't like her very much himself.

"We do need time just to concentrate on us and our relationship, and we should have taken a vacation long before now," Hotch admitted. "As of now that's going to change though, because Susan is right nine years is a long time without a break, even if we've taken a few long weekends over the years."

"So how long should I take off for?" asked Spencer.

"Well…," Hotch said thinking about it.

"I don't want to interrupt, but I would like you to stay for at least a few weeks so you can really get to know Harry and the rest of us," Susan said. "I'm hoping to start something here, like where you and Harry and our children will spend lots of time together and become friends at the very least."

"Let's say we take a month off," Hotch said. "We don't necessarily have to stay with Susan and Harry for the whole time, we can explore a little, see some of the sites. We can even take the older children with us, leaving the younger ones with the Potters. It wouldn't hurt the children at all to learn something about another culture or to learn to appreciate history."

"So how old are they?" asked Susan, "and what are their names?"

"Well, the oldest six are Davey, Sheridan, Tim, Fred, Isadora and Tabitha," Spencer said reeling the names off from his eidetic memory without pause. "The ones after that are less than a year younger as I wanted to get pregnant again right way before the spells were taken off me and I lost all that baby weight and are Russell, Pierce, Oskar and Derek. Amazingly enough the six I had when I was 27 almost 28 were all girls, just like the quads are all boys and we named him Sabrina, Lira, Monica, Theresa, Roxanne and Viviana and they are just 21 months. Now this last batch I got pregnant with just a month after the birth of our daughters since I wanted to get pregnant again right away, although I certainly didn't except to have six again and so they are 11 months old, except there were three boys and three girls and so the names we decided on were, Athena, Deborah, Paxton, Emerson, Carey and Gerry."

"What can I say except I am a very viral man, but then most Shifters are, although I admit most of them don't have sextuplets, three times as it's usually 2 to 4, and maybe 6 once, but not three times," Hotch said with a rather lecherous smirk at his mate, which caused Susan to blush and Spencer's eyes to go glassy with desire.

Susan felt like a voyeur in this very private moment, as even she could sense the connection that existed between the pair with her eyes closed. It was so obvious that the two of them were very deeply in love that it brought tears to her eyes for she missed her husband so much, even if he was gone on a mission right now.

Finally Spencer and Hotch came back to themselves and neither seemed embarrassed at their little display and in fact Spencer went immediately into his mate's arms and it was clear this was a common occurrence as Spencer looked perfectly comfortable standing with Aaron's arms around him. Susan was sure if she wasn't here the two men would already be headed to their bedroom to make love, so Susan was very grateful for their restraint.

"That's a lot of names," Susan commented once she was sure that her two hosts private moment was over, "I don't know how you can remember them so fast."

"Eidetic memory," Spencer informed her. "Just in case you don't know what that is it means I remember everything I read or see and anything I hear can also be imprinted on my memory if I want to remember it forever for some reason. It is a very rare talent that only a small percentage of the population has and it has its advantages, but also its disadvantages."

"Besides, they are our children and even though there's a lot of them we would never forget any of their names, although I know that's not true of people who have only met them once or twice," Hotch said. "We named them after all."

"I hadn't thought of it like that," Susan admitted, "but you're right. I would never forget any of my children's names, even if I had say ten of them.

"I'll order dinner and it should be here in half an hour," Hotch said taking out his cellphone and pushing a couple of buttons and Susan knew that the number must be programmed in. The two men probably ordered out often, so it made sense to have all the places they ordered from frequently programmed into their phones, so they didn't have go to the trouble of remembering the numbers or looking them up in the phone book.

Hotch spoke into the phone for a minute then hung up.

"So Susan, please call me Aaron, just like Spencer does or Hotch if you prefer as that is what the team calls me, since first names aren't exactly encouraged at work. There's no reason to be so formal, because while that is necessary at work, you are family and I prefer to be informal when in my own home."

"Thank you, I will," Susan said for some reason absurdly pleased that this man wanted her to call him by his first name.

"Why don't I show you to one of the guestrooms while we are waiting for our food?" Spencer suggested.

"Oh, now I was just going to get a room at a wizarding hotel," Susan protested.

"Why spend money on wizarding accommodations, when you can stay here for free?" Hotch pointed out logically. "It's only for a few days, while Spencer and I put in for leave time and make all the arrangements to go to England the next several weeks."

"Alright then," Susan finally agreed, as she had the feeling that it would do her no good to protest.

"Good, if you come this way we have several guestrooms," Spencer said.

Spencer headed for the stairs and made sure to hold onto the railing as he climbed to the second floor, Susan following.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"You know as strange as it is I'm so happy that Susan has appeared in our lives and that I'll get to meet a very distant relative," Spencer said. "I was always intending to see if I could trace any of my family tree to find out if I had any relatives, but with raising, my siblings, then the children, spending as much time with you and the rest of the team as I can and working, I just haven't had time. Who knows if I ever would've gotten around to it, so I'm glad that Susan, did just appear, no matter how weird a coincidence it is."

"I am to," Hotch admitted, "I'm also glad that her friend Hermione advised her against calling in advance, because I probably would have told the guards downstairs to throw her out. I mean people pull hoaxes all the time, and it's very possible that I would have believed that her appearance was nothing more than that."

"How could it be a hoax?" Spencer asked. "I mean we live pretty quietly and while people know that you are married most don't know to who or the fact that I am male. Yes, you are highly visible since you and the team are on the TV all the time for solving one case to another, so I could see somebody's trying to pull a hoax against you, but me..."

"I hadn't thought about it that way, but you're right," Hotch admitted.

"So how much vacation time are you going to take off?" asked Spencer. "I believe you mentioned a month earlier."

"I did and well, I haven't had a vacation or at least not one that was more than a few days in years," Hotch said. "I mean, as I told Susan, we never even really had a honeymoon and we've been mated 9 years and married a little less than that, so I was thinking about actually taking that month I mentioned downstairs, although I've never taken that much leave at one time before."

"If you ask me, you more than deserve it," Spencer snorted. "I've always admired your sense of duty and work ethic, but as you have pointed out to me on several occasions we deserve personal lives to. I know I'm really not one to talk since I'm a workaholic to, but we do need to take little breaks so that we don't burn out and that is especially true for you, since I know your job is very stressful."

"The team isn't going to be happy, but as I said Dave has been urging me to take time off for a long time now," Hotch said. "Dave and Morgan are more than capable of leading the team while I'm gone and there's also JJ and Emily and Ryan."

Ryan Matthews had joined the team just three years ago, and he was turning into a fine profiler. Matthews was also a wolf Shifter and Hotch had made it clear from the first who was in charge, and Ryan had been fine with that, because he definitely wasn't an alpha male as he had a very laidback personality, although he was also highly intelligent and pulled his weight with the team, which was all Hotch cared about.

Ryan had not been told, that Spencer was a wizard, although Emily had as she and Spencer as well as the rest of the team spent a great deal of time together, usually at some bar, but occasionally the whole team went out to dinner.

Hotch was of the opinion that it was time Matthews knew as he had proved himself trustworthy, and he definitely didn't share Gideon's views of so long go, about magic being the devil's work. That was for the future though, and right now they had better things to do.

"We can talk about that later though, as I've been wanting to claim you for hours now and if I don't bury myself in your body soon I'm going to go insane," Hotch said gruffly pulling his mate even closer to him. "Don't think I missed those looks you kept shooting me, or the way you've deliberately brushed up against me on several occasions."

"You're one to talk, as you started it with that rather lecherous smirk you gave me in front of our guest no less. You're lucky I didn't just attack you right there and drag you upstairs, because I sure did have trouble controlling myself. I guarantee you that if Susan hadn't been there I wouldn't have resisted and we would've been in master bedroom in seconds without having to climb the stairs, and I would've had your clothes off seconds after that."

"Well, our guest is tucked in for the night and our children are asleep, so why don't you go ahead and do what you were thinking about doing earlier," Hotch offered with another smirk.

Spencer didn't need a second invitation, and was immediately on top of Aaron's body with one of his legs between his mate's so that he couldn't close them accident while in the midst of pleasure.

"I've been wanting to do this for hours," Spencer moaned, as he took one of his mate's nipples into his mouth and sucked on it gently, while at the same time one of his hands was gently stroking his Aaron's inner thigh where he knew his mate was the most sensitive.

As many years as the two of them had been together both men knew the others body and how it reacted so Spencer had Aaron writhing beneath him in a matter of seconds.

"I'm going to keep you from coming for hours," Spencer told his mate with a wide grin as he gazed down at the handsome form of one Aaron Hotchner. His, Aaron was so handsome and confident in himself that he had females falling all over themselves to get his attention and even when a lot of them discovered he was married that didn't stop them, but Spencer had no doubt of his mate's loyalty to him, even if he didn't really appreciate having females drooling all over him even when he was present. Aaron always handled those females politely but firmly and most of them left him alone after being rebuffed, but there were always a few that still tried to come onto him and when they persisted Aaron could be just as rude as anybody else when he was getting annoyed because those women wouldn't take the hint.

"I'm going to keep you just on the edge of your climax, but not allow you to come until I am ready for you to. I've been ready for you for hours and you know how hard it was to resist just dragging you upstairs, guest or no?" asked Spencer rhetorically.

"I do have some idea," Hotch said his voice a low moan, "because you know I feel the same way you do. I'll never get enough of your body or making love to you as long as I am alive to do so. I don't care if I live to be two hundred, I don't plan to stop having sex with you just because we get old."

"Neither do I," Spencer declared, as he got back to what he had been doing, enjoying torturing his mate in every pleasurable way imaginable and a few that weren't, so it was more than an hour later, actually closer to two, when Spencer was done for the moment torturing his mate, so he got his cock into position after making sure it was covered with plenty of lube and entered his, Aaron, without bothering to use his fingers first.

Oh, this was utter perfection! He didn't get an opportunity do this as often as he'd have liked, simply because his mate was an alpha male and was on top more often than not. However, when Aaron ceded control to him, it meant everything, because he knew very well that his lover liked to be in control, even while making love and no it wasn't that both of them didn't get pleasure out of the act, simply that Aaron liked to be in the dominant position, which was of course, the top.

"Ahhh!" Hotch whimpered not in pain, but in pleasure, as he felt himself reaching the peak of his climax as his lover shoved his cock, which was smaller then his and yet somehow fit his body perfectly just like his did in Spencer's, into his hole.

"Ohhhh! You are so wet and so tight," Spencer whimpered, as his pleasure immediately doubled and almost sent him over the edge of his climax. "The little sounds you make while I am lavishing your body with attention drive me absolutely wild with lust and desire. I love the way you say my name, when in the midst pleasure, and I love the way you whimper and growl begging me for more."

Spencer's eyes rolled back in his skull, as the pleasure he was feeling tripled, then quadrupled, as Aaron had enough presence of mind to lean up slightly and start to nibble on one of his mate's nipples, which were extremely sensitive, while one of his hands, which had not been in the least idle, gripped his mate's dark brown hair that was slightly shaggy and long and therefore, perfect for leverage, while the other one left long shallow scratch marks on his mate's back causing Spencer to give a needy, pleasure filled groan and immediately pick up the pace of moving his cock in and out of his mate.

Hotch passage squeezed his mate's cock, as if in welcome and Spencer let out a long, low moan again. Spencer continued to lavish his mate's chest with kisses, licks and nips, even going so far as to lick the permanent mating mark that had faded over the years on the side of Aaron's neck and with that little action, because the marks between their necks and the junction of their shoulder blades meant so much to them they both immediately went over the edges of their climaxes causing Spencer's cock to explode into his mate's tight, hot, wet channel, dumping several long, thick ropes of semen into his, Aaron's body. He might not have as much seed to give as Aaron always did, but he was still enormously pleased, that his member dumped three or four long spurts into his mate's body every time he was allowed to be on top, and when he was, on the bottom he got the same reaction from his penis, even if it always ended up all over his stomach, the bedsheets and occasionally on Aaron too, which the man he adored and claimed he didn't mind and that he loved smelling like his lover's release. Spencer had to admit that Aaron always seemed resigned to shower and get rid of the smell of his semen and Spencer thought that perhaps, Aaron loving the smell of having his release all over his body was a Shifter thing, since they were partly like their animal counterpart too.

Ahhhhhhhhh!" Spencer moaned collapsing on top of his mate, as his climax ripped through him, with the force of a hurricane.

At the same time, Hotch also went over the edge as well.

The two men, one on top of the other, didn't move as their climaxes continued ripping though them for several long minutes and when they finally subsided, it was at least 10 minutes later.

"I love you, Aaron," Spencer told his mate in a passion filled, husky voice kissing the side of his neck over the mating mark again and again.

"I love you too," Hotch told Spencer huskily, but sincerely his arms coming up to wrap around his mate's much slenderer frame protectively.

"I know it," Spencer assured him kissing Hotch on the nose. "You show me in little ways every day how much you do love me, even if you don't say the words. Those little gestures tell me louder then words ever could that I am loved and that's all I need."

"Still, I should tell you more often," Hotch said. "You are my world and if anything were to happen to you…"

"As Rossi often tell you, you need to start focusing on the positive, not the negative," Spencer told Aaron scoldingly.

Aaron nodded against his mate's neck and then kissed the soft skin there, as he thought about how lucky he was and how he would make sure that he never lost Spencer until both of them were as old as the hills. This he swore on all he held dear in this world, as losing his mate would rip him to pieces and he knew the same was true for Spencer as well.

The two men laid contentedly with Spencer still sprawled out on top of Aaron's chest not willing to move, even if his mate would let him considering Hotch's arms were still around his body preventing him from going anywhere.

"Ready for another round?" Hotch asked hopefully, after a few minutes of intense silence.

"I'm always ready for that," Spencer said eagerly, starting to move off Hotch's chest, so that Aaron could have his way with his body instead of the other way around. "There is one thing I need to tell you though before we get to that."

"What's that?" asked Hotch.

"Well, when we tied the knot by doing that Shifter ritual a few years back I knew I felt something when the ritual formed the bond that is between us and at the time I really didn't think anything of it. However, it was again brought to my attention when I accidentally cut my finger when using one of the kitchen knives to fix some lunch."

"What happened?" asked Hotch immediately in concern. "I don't remember seeing you with any Band-Aids on your fingers at anytime."

"That's because much to my amazement just as I was going to go clean and wrap it up it started to heal. In less than a minute it was completely gone."

Hotch listened in amazement and wondered how Spencer had gotten a Shifter's healing ability, as depending on species for the most part they healed much faster than normal depending on what kind of injury it was. A little cut or scrap, healed immediately and it was as if it had never been there at all. This had to do with the fact that their body heat was higher, then a Normal or someone magical like Spencer and was usually around a 103 or 104 degrees Fahrenheit, which for anybody else would mean they had quite the fever and could possibly die for most people wouldn't survive if they got a fever of more than 107 and 105 was considered dangerously high. Hotch realized that Spencer's body temperature had been a little high for sometime, although it certainly wasn't as high his, but at least a degree or two higher then was normal, but had dismissed it since his lover didn't seem to have a fever or be sick in anyway. Now he realized that he shouldn't have.

"In fact, I haven't had the cold or the flu or been sick at all for the last five or six years at least and I don't remember ever having a cold, ever since we bonded in the shifter's version of a wedding ceremony about three years after we bonded that first time. Now normally, as you know I'm a pretty healthy individual, but I do tend to get colds at least once every year, and usually around the same time, so I'm surprised that I haven't noticed sooner."

"Do you have a theory has to why you're sending healing so fast?" asked Hotch, knowing that his mate was likely to have some kind of theory.

"Oh, several," Spencer admitted.

"So are you going to tell me what they are?" asked Hotch in genuine curiosity.

"Alright," Spencer agreed. "My main theory in the one that makes the most sense to me anyway, is that when we mated and then tied the knot metaphorically speaking by way of the Shifter wedding ritual that gave me certain abilities that you possess. Of course, the reason I developed these abilities might also have to do with the fact that I do have Shifter blood on both sides of my family, even if it's not for numerous generations."

"You know that makes a great deal of sense," Hotch admitted after a moment of thought. "I'm sure this has happened sometime in the past somewhere in the world, but finding out would be impossible and to me anyway it doesn't really matter as it is just means that I won't lose you to some sort of disease, because Shifters can't get a lot of them like cancer, mainly because our body temperature burns so high that it doesn't allow a lot of diseases to take hold."

"I'm not sure about that as there is no way to test it, although I know I haven't had the cold or the flu or anything else in quite sometime," said Spencer.

"If you haven't even caught a cold or the flu in at least the last five years then it is likely you won't be able to catch anything that a Shifter can't," Hotch said.

"You know what I've also noticed?" asked Spencer uncertainly.

"What's that?" asked Hotch wondering what else Spencer was going to tell him.

"Well, I know you haven't noticed I'm sure you would have mentioned it, but you don't look like you've really aged a day since we mated nine years ago, except for a few stress lines in your forehead and around your month. I bet if I tested it I would find that you now share some of my longevity. I mean you're 40 or nearly so and you would think you would look it, especially considering the stress of your job and yet you don't."

"You know I hadn't really paid attention, but you're right and I look almost the same age I did when I was 30 and we met. I certainly haven't lost any of my energy in the nine years we've been together and you would think I would have less now considering and I'm 9 years older. Yes, I make sure I stay in shape and that helps my energy level, but I should at least feel my age and I really don't. Part of that is probably I'm so happy, that life stresses aren't getting me down like they do so many people, but as for the rest… So how do we tell if I've suddenly developed some of your longevity?"

"Well, I can probably measure it," Spencer said thoughtfully. "Would you like me to try?"

"What do you precisely plan on doing?" asked Hotch. "I have to know before I can give you a positive answer."

"Well, there is no specific spell to tell something like this, which isn't really surprising considering I'm not sure this has ever happened before at least in the States or if it has it's either been so long ago that people have forgotten or possibly it's been kept very quiet," Spencer explained. "What I'm going to do is use Legilimency on you and see if I can measure if your lifeforce is stronger or not. Now normally for a witch or wizard their aura or life force is very strong, much stronger than it is for muggles and a Shifter's aura is quite a bit stronger then a muggles, though weaker then someone who has magic and this probably has to do with the fact that on average Shifters live longer then muggles do, although not as long as witches and wizards can."

Spencer paused as if a though had just occurred to him and then hit himself on the side of his head as if to say I've been an idiot.

"What's wrong?" asked Hotch seeing the action and becoming worried.

"Nothing I was just hitting myself for being an idiot," Spencer said with an embarrassed smile. "You see I didn't think of it until just now when I was explaining about auras or a person's lifeforce and there is a spell to make an a person's lifeforce visible, temporarily. In my defense it's a very obscure spell and if I didn't read so much I wouldn't have known about it and when I did read about it it was years ago before we had met."

"So your theory is that my lifeforce will be stronger than it should be if I've developed some of your longevity," Hotch said relaxing now that he knew nothing was wrong and Spencer nodded.

"It should, for every species has a distinctive nimbus that surrounds their body from the top of their heads to the bottom of their feet. Some Normals have claimed that they're able to see this nimbus of light that surrounds a person, and whether what these people say is true or if they're just lying to get attention is unknown. In any case, besides the strength of a person's lifeforce they also are different colors for each species. Magical auras tend to be a golden color that can go through a pale yellow to a white depending on the strength of a witch's or wizard's magic. Of course, that will grow until they reach about 21 where that is the power they will have for the rest of their lives, so while they will have a weaker aura when they are children, that gets stronger the older they get. Also some increase more in magical power, as they grow while others don't increase that much. A squib, of course, would be white and surrounded by blue, but without a hint of gold or yellow in the white because they don't have any magic, but the blue tells you that he or she is also a Normal. Also with magical people they have an extra nimbus around their lifeforce. This nimbus can be a very light green that is so pale it looks almost white to a very dark green that is nearly black. Now according to how big your magical core is, since it's tied to that extra nimbus and the darker green it is the longer you'll live, but you can't really tell until a child's magical core finishes growing, but after that whatever color that extra nimbus is you can estimate how long they are going to live naturally barring accident, being murdered or something like disease. Just so you know, even a child with a very weak magical core can live up to over hundred, but ones with a strong magical core and a dark green nimbus around their lifeforce can live up to 500 or more. Mostly though most magical folks live to around 250 to 300 years, while a few have lived to be 350 or 400. It is a very rare event that a witch or wizard has a magical core that is big enough to live to 500 years or more, but it has happened, although probably not more than say 20 or 30 times in the last thousand years if that. It is only a very small percentage of magical folks that have lived that long, and general health has a lot to do with it along with what kind of foods they eat, like if they eat to much fat or grease, that type of thing. I mean a witch or wizard can die from a clogged artery just like anybody can, and really that dark green nimbus I was telling you about is just the potential to live that long, so long as you take care of yourself, as we're not immortal after all even if magic will sustain us for centuries it is not the whole equation.

"Now with Shifters it's different as their lifeforce is silver, and it doesn't matter if you're a wolf Shifter, a lion Shifter or any other other type of Shifter the color remains the same. However, a Shifter that also has magic still has a mostly silver aura, but combined with gold or yellow or white, around the edges and sprinkled throughout the silver to show that they have the ability. However, the Shifter's aura can change to a very dark silver that looks gray, to an almost white with just a few streaks of silver.

"As for the Normals their auras are blue, anywhere from a deep dark navy blue to a light blue that looks almost white and in the case of a Normal the color of the blues tells somebody their strength of character and their conviction. If it's a really dark blue, then nothing will ever sway them in say taking a bribe or lying about something important."

"I'm assuming that babies are not born with specific color to their aura," Hotch said.

"All species are born with a white aura that change color as they grow, though a lot of it has to do with what they learn as they grow up and the kind of person they choose to be as they grow to adulthood and depending on which direction they choose to go it will change color, throughout their lives, depending on a lot of little factors like their personalities, which can change for better or for worse, their emotional growth and maturity and so forth. Things like tragedies also mark a person and shows up in their auras, especially if the event has affected a person deeply, as does something like a huge celebratory event like the birth of a child. Normals as babies start out with a white aura that turns to pale blue relatively quickly, but as they grow and learn about the world and their personalities are formed their aura will change depending on their mental maturity and attitude. If a person is extremely selfish or untrustworthy, their aura will stay a blue so pale that is as nearly white, as when they were born, but if they are a person to be trusted never shift in their views of right or wrong it will be a dark, dark, blue that is nearly black. Of course, an aura can shift on a person depending on what they're thinking at that time."

"Sounds complicated," Hotch said fascinated.

"It is, as all the information I read about it came back to me when I remembered about that spell that can show a person's aura. So would you like to try?"

"Sure, why not," Hotch said immediately trusting what his mate had told him, as he knew that Spencer would never lie to him at all, well, not unless he was trying to surprise them with something like dinner out or a present and that was different. He knew however, that his mate wouldn't never lie to him about anything truly important, just as he never would to Spencer either.

"Alright then," Spencer said, getting his wand off the bedside table and chanting, "Rendere visibile la forza vitale di questa persona (Make visible the vital force of this person.)

As soon as Spencer had said the words in which Hotch knew were Italian, since he had heard Dave speak it often enough over the years, however, just because he knew it was Italian didn't mean he could translate what was being said.

Hotch couldn't see any difference, but Spencer was staring at him in shock so something had to have occurred when the red light had left Spencer's wand.

"Alright, what do you see?" Hotch asked just a little anxiously. "I can't see anything so you're going to have to tell me…"

"Oh, sorry," Spencer said shaking his head in wonder. "I forgot to mention that you won't be able to see your own lifeforce, even if you look in the mirror, as it is only visible to someone else."

The awe and wonder in Spencer's voice meant he was seeing something he hadn't expected and Hotch was anxious to find out what that was, although he knew it must be a good thing, because otherwise his mate would sound worried instead of excited.

"So what do you see?" asked Hotch.

"Well, your aura is silver just like I said it would be, so that isn't the part that surprised me," Spencer said.

"Just tell me before you drive me insane," Hotch ordered gruffly getting more anxious by the minute.

"Well…for one thing you have one of the darkest auras I have ever seen, which I explained the significance of a few minutes ago. Really your aura is a dark gray instead of silver. I've always known that you were a man of conviction, that would never do what he considered the wrong thing and this just proves it. However, what I wasn't expecting was the fact that you're aura is laced through, with gold and also has developed a dark green nimbus around your lifeforce and there is also a cord of the same color that branches off from it and seems to be in my direction."

"What precisely does that mean?" asked Hotch carefully.

"Well, I don't know for sure, but I would say that because the cord is the same color as that extra aura that all magical folks have that tells you how much lifeforce a person has I think it means that our lives are tied together. I'm going to make an assumption, since the book didn't cover this, that when we mated or maybe when we did the Shifter wedding ritual that bound us together even tighter than before, my lifeforce became yours. For all I know it could have been a combination of the mating as well as the wedding ritual or even the magical bonding ceremony that also bound us together, although in a different way or all three."

"You don't know if this is ever happened before?" asked Hotch and Spencer shook his head.

"It's very possible that it happens every time a Shifter has a witch or a wizard as a True Mate, which I'm sure has happened before you and me or Morgan and Garcia. I'm guessing that when the magical person and the Shifter go through the initial mating and then the wedding ritual is what causes this shared lifeforce to occur. I'm just guessing here, so don't take it is fact until we can prove it one way or the other," Spencer said by way of warning. "I bet, however, that if we were to check Morgan's and Garcia's auras on the sly, we would discover the same thing has happened to them that has happened to us."

"I think it's a very well thought out and educated guess, based on what you know," Hotch said, "and it certainly makes sense. So that dark green nimbus means it is possible that you could live up to 500 years old because of the size of your magical core, which also means that unless I get myself killed in the field I could also potentially live that long, even though I don't have any magic."

"Yes, but it also means we'll have to be very careful here," Spencer said his voice still totally awed. "You can still retire at age 65, as is required of all government employees, but after that it's best if we just live very quietly and perhaps, move somewhere else or travel the world. I'm just concerned about someone like Strauss finding out that you're living much longer than you should and then discovering why that is. That right there has the potential to become a major disaster, even if it will probably never happen we still need to be aware that it could."

"I don't think we need to worry too much," Hotch said, "as by the time I leave the bureau at 65 or sooner if I so choose Strauss will have long since retired as she's already in her early 50s. However, that concern you voiced is valid and we will have to handle this very carefully, because I definitely never expected to live past my normal span of years, which for a Shifter, especially one as vital and in excellent shape as I am, is anywhere from a 100 to 150 years. By the time I've been retired 10 years nobody will remember me, except the original team if any of them are still with the BAU, although most of them if not all of them will have retired at that point."

"Yes, you do have a point," Spencer said relaxing. "By the time you reach the age where a Shifter normally passes into the next world, most of the employees at the FBI will have forgotten about you at all and unless they are into looking at old files you should be basically forgotten about, except maybe by the older employees who remember you and the others."

"Still, it doesn't hurt to be careful," Hotch said, "and I have no objection to traveling the world if that's what you want to do after I've retired. We can maybe turn the house over to one of the children who will all be grown-up then and move into someplace that is smaller, as there is no point of living in a place this big since there is just the two of us."

"Well, the Reids or rather the Potters own houses all over the world," Spencer said thoughtfully, "and we can pick out one we want to live in. I'm sure there is something that is not too big that the Potters own that will be perfect when it is just the two of us again. I admit though that mostly the houses that are owned by my family are just as big as this one if not larger."

"If your family doesn't already own something of suitable size we can buy something," Hotch said and Spencer nodded in agreement.

"In any case, the charm I discovered is very obscure not to mention it's from a different country, and most witches and wizards never bother discovering old, forgotten spells and definitely not one that was created out of their country. Most witches and wizards are happy with the spells that they learn when they went to school, and never realize how many spells are out there that are created in other countries or have been forgotten about. Of course, I realize not many people speak anything besides their own language anymore and maybe one more, and that spell was Italian just so you know, which I happen to read, write and speak fluently."

"Oh, I recognized the words as Italian since that's what Rossi happens to be, even if I didn't know what you were saying specifically," Hotch told him.

"Well, basically, I was saying reveal this person's lifeforce. That's not the exact wording but that's the gist of it," Spence said.

"So, because mine is such a dark green, that means you as well as me have the potential to live for longer than is normal for someone who is magical, is that correct?" asked Hotch.

"Basically, yeah," Spencer agreed. "I never expected that the nimbus around my lifeforce would be so dark green, which means I have a very large magical core, but then again us Potters, at least here in America have always married rather liberally, which has a lot to do with why we've always been so strong when it comes to magic. If we had kept our family line pure by only marrying other purebloods we probably would have died out or be close to it because of inbreeding."

"You know with your magical abilities being so strong it's likely that all our pups will inherit it. I mean we know the oldest ten have the ability, as they started showing signs of magic like at two years old in some cases, but now I believe that our 12 youngest will also have your ability to do magic thanks to your magical core being so large. Didn't you once tell me that a person was more likely to pass on their magical ability to all their children if they were a strong magic user themselves, especially if one parent wasn't a witch or wizard?"

"I did," Spencer said remembering that conversation. "I knew I was a fairly strong in magic, since in most of the classes I had no trouble with the practical application of a spell of charm we were learning when I went to school in Las Vegas, except for defense against the dark arts, but that was never a matter of power, just the fact that I don't seem to have the instincts of knowing when to fire a spell before I'm down for the count or the reflexes that you really need to be good at the subject. In my seventh year, which was almost exclusively dueling, I nearly lost every time, even if I performed my spells properly, which is why I passed, but didn't get an A in the subject. You really need excellent instincts for knowing when to fire a spell or move out of the way when someone else does and I just don't seem to have them."

"So what if you didn't get an A in one subject, we all have our talents and you should never be picked on, just because you're not perfect," Hotch said his voice a growl.

"It doesn't really matter now, as that was years ago and I'll never see most of those people that were so cruel to me again. Besides, most of that was just children growing up, and most of them likely grew out of it."

Hotch said nothing, but Spencer knew his opinion about those people who had picked on him so badly quite well considering that they had discussed this subject fairly often when they had first gotten together, although not for awhile. Anybody who hurt his mate, even though it had been years before they'd met got a place on Aaron's shit list even if he knew a lot of the cruelty and bullying was just immaturity that most people outgrew.

"I very much doubt that I'll ever see any of them again, considering that I no longer live in the Las Vegas area," Spencer said.

"I suppose we had better get some sleep, as I need to go into work tomorrow and put in for leave time and tell the team that I'm taking at least the next month off."

"And I need to do the same at St. Murphy's," Spencer said, "though that shouldn't be a problem since I too have plenty of leave coming to me."

"I love you, Spencer," Hotch said

"I love you to, Aaron," Spencer said returning the sentiment and kissing Hotch's cheek and then the side of his neck before settling into his usual position against his mate's side with his head over Hotch's heart.

Hotch for his part simply pulled his mate as close as he could get them until Spencer was laying half on and half off his chest and it was in that position that both men fell asleep.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	12. Chapter 12

Several days later

"It's nice to meet you," Harry told Spencer and Hotch, sincerely.

Harry had been genuinely shocked, when Susan explained what she and Hermione had been doing for the last year. He knew that he had been rather distracted with work lately, which was why he hadn't realized that his wife or the woman he considered his sister had gotten involved in trying to find out if he had any other family besides, his three children with a fourth one on the way.

Harry was genuinely touched that Susan and Hermione had gone to so much trouble for him and beyond pleased to meet Spencer and his mate as he had never known he had any other family, but he supposed he had never bothered to research the matter either.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too," Spencer said with a smile returning the handshake.

"I had no idea that Susan was doing this, but then I've been rather busy at work and so I've been distracted, but I'm glad she did. I would appreciate it if at some point would would tell me what you know about our family history, as I know so little about my family."

"You need to read the diaries in the Potter vault," Susan told her husband gently. "I know you're busy with work, but you don't have to read them all in one day as it took me a month or more to go through them."

"I've been meaning to do that anyway, but every time I want to start something pops up," Harry said.

"So take them out of the vault and put them in the library, and then you have easier access to them when you have time to read them," Susan said

"I might just do that," Harry said looking thoughtful, "so to change the subject I hear you brought your children with you?"

"We did," Hotch said with a smile. "They're upstairs taking a nap and I warn you there's quite a few."

"So Susan was telling me," Harry said. "I've never heard of the spells she was telling me about that allowed a man to have children naturally, but then I know every country has a lot of its own unique spells and it's a rare event when you'll find an American spell here in England or vice versa and I'm not talking about spells that are universal that you'll find on most every continent like Reducto or Wingardium Leviosa, but spells that are unique to the country itself."

"For every spell still used today at least three have been lost," Spencer lectured, "as they either fell out of use, or were just eventually forgotten about and some just because they were too dangerous for magical folks to continue using them or were banned. Sorry," Spencer apologized. "You'll find that I read a lot, because I like to learn new things."

"Yes, he does," Hotch said with smirk in the direction of his mate. "He's one of the smartest people I've ever met, and I work with some very intelligent men and women. I've often wished over the last nine years that he worked at the BAU with me and the team, because not only would we be together much more, he really would be an asset, because of all the data he has stored in his brain."

Spencer blushed at the compliment, as he knew that his mate meant every single word. Aaron Hotchner never complimented anyone unless it was earned, not even his mate.

"So what do you plan to do while you were here in England?" asked Harry.

"Well, we thought as long as we're here we might as well see some of the sites," Spencer explained. "Aaron and I came mostly to get to know you and your family, which was the main reason for our visit, however, that doesn't mean that we can't do other things while we are here."

"We can take the older children on outings to the zoo and the museum," Hotch added. "I'm sure all except for our youngest would enjoy that and it would also be educational."

"I'm sure at least James and Lily would enjoy that if you want to take them along," Harry said. "Peter is probably a bit too young."

"Of course, we'll take them along," Spencer agreed after glancing at Hotch who nodded. "Two more children isn't going to be anymore trouble then the other ten."

"I'll come along for extra supervision, and the house-elves can take care of Peter and your younger children for a few hours since elves naturally love children anyway."

"You know I had heard about house-elves, but I had never seen one," Spencer said. "Really they look just like I imagined they would."

"I wonder why the American wizarding world doesn't use them like you do here in England and other places," Hotch said

"Because in America we're little bit more enlightened at least for the most part," Spencer told Hotch. "We abolished slavery centuries ago, and although some of the older families still use them, for the most part we just don't use house-elves in America. Of course, it helps that there is a babysitting service that will help you look after your little witches and wizards when you have to work. In many ways wizarding England is behind the times. No offense," Reid added in their hosts direction.

"None taken," Harry and Susan said together.

"You're right," Harry added, "We are behind the times compared to the rest of the world, even if that is slowly getting better."

"Permanent change takes time," Spencer said wisely.

"So would you introduce me to your children?" asked Harry.

"Of course, as soon as they are up from their naps, which should be anytime now," Hotch said. "Just don't be surprised that there so many of them, as I'm warning you now."

"So how many do you have as Susan never did say," Harry asked.

"22," Hotch and Spencer said together.

"That many?" Harry sputtered.

"We did warn you there was a lot of them," Spencer told Harry chuckling and wishing he had a camera as his cousins expression was priceless.

"So you did, but I never expected so many," Harry said. "I know that Shifters sometimes have large families, just so long as they can afford to, thanks to them being so much like their animal counterparts who have multiple births all the time, but I never expected..."

"I can understand your surprise," Hotch said dryly. "The number of multiples per pregnancy varies from Shifter to Shifter and also from pregnancy to pregnancy, but I have to admit that Spencer and I seem to be unusually fertile and I'm not sure if that's because of the spells that were used to give Spencer a temporary womb and the other things he needs to give birth naturally or if it's just something that's unique to us as a couple. For all I know our desire for a large family somehow, transmuted itself until Spencer was pregnant with six pups at a time for three of his pregnancies and four the other time. Most mated couples, ones that are truly mated like Spencer and I want a lot of pups, However, I will admit that most of them don't have as many as Spencer and I, but mostly because they don't have the money to raise them properly or the space for them either. Most wolf Shifters and their True Mates usually have at least 10 children, but stop after that."

"We have two friends who are True Mates one of whose a lioness Shifter and the other whose completely human, that have eight and Garcia was only pregnant twice," Spencer added. "Garcia and Morgan decided to stop there, because even though they both have good jobs, that many is more than enough for them to handle. Their children stay at Aaron's and my place when they're gone for work and since Aaron and I are godfathers too four of them, two apiece I don't mind at all."

"So you work together," Susan said.

"Yes, we do, as Morgan is a profiler like I am a part of the team, and Penelope Garcia is our computer expert and finds us the information that we need to catch our target. She is not a field agent, as her contributions is mostly from behind the scenes, but still she is an integral part of the team nonetheless. Occasionally she does travel with us if her computer skills are going to be required, but not to often. Really once and sometimes twice a year is about all."

"I have to admit I don't know much about American law enforcement," Harry admitted.

"Well, we have a local police force in every city just like you do here in England, but the FBI handles things like kidnappings, especially of children, serial killers among other things and we have a mandate to help out other cities with their criminal problem, but we have to be invited either by someone like the mayor or by local law enforcement and a lot of times they resent our presence even after they've called us in because they can't catch the person that has been killing so many people. I'm afraid that a lot of FBI agents are arrogant and take over a case pushing the local cops out, so is it any wonder that we're resented even if we're needed to help catch a particularly clever serial killer? Being all arrogant and pushing the local cops out of the case is not how my team and I work, but thanks to other agents that's the reputation that the FBI has, and a lot of times we have to struggle against that resentment until they see that we're not going to take the case away from them. It helps that we give the local police force most of the credit for catching whatever kind of criminal it is, but still it is almost always a struggle to get to that point. You have to be polite no matter the provocation and that isn't always easy, especially since some of the more aggressive cops make it clear that they'd rather you not be there and that they resent you invading their territory."

"I can certainly understand that," Harry said. "I know I would resent someone trying to take over my case and butting in where their help is neither appreciated nor asked for."

The four continued to chat and Susan was pleased that it was going so well as she had been secretly afraid that Harry would be furious at her.

"So I don't want to seem nosy or anything, but are you plan on having any more children after this?" asked Harry.

"Well..." Spencer said after glancing over at Hotch. "It isn't that we don't want to, but with Aaron's job it's really not very wise, as we're having trouble enough explaining to muggles that aren't in on the secret where children come from and even explaining that we're using the IVF treatment to have children, isn't going to wash if we have anymore."

"IVF?" asked Susan with a raised eyebrow curiously.

"It's a process that was invented in the 70s..." Spencer begin to explain.

"So you're saying this IVF and the agreement of a surrogate to carry your child or children to term and then give them up afterwards, is the way you've explaining having children of your own, but since nobody has so many children anymore, people are still suspicious."

"Something like that," Spencer agreed and Hotch nodded grimly.

"Thanks to me working for the government there has to be a logical explanation where the children came from as they know nothing about magic. Now while IVF treatment fits as an explanation, nobody has over 20 children or more nowadays, although that wasn't true centuries ago since so many of them died from various diseases that there were no cures for back then. As much as Spencer and I would like to have more, it's not really practical. Unfortunately, there is a particularly vindictive woman who hates me, by the name of Erin Strauss and unfortunately, she's my boss. If she got even a hint that the children's births weren't through the IVF process she would investigate until she found out how it was done. She's already very suspicious, because we have so many and she feels that no woman would carry sextuplets or agree to have that many embryos implanted in the first place and even explaining that we paid her great deal of money and that she was a shifter herself hasn't made her any less suspicious. That Spencer has plenty of money doesn't really wash anymore even if we use a different woman every time, who is a shifter every time. In a way Strauss is right that no woman that we know of would agree to have that many embryos implanted, except perhaps, for another Shifter, as I have just stated. Yes, there are organizations where woman volunteer to have some someone else's embryo's implanted into their uterus for those that can't get pregnant on their own for medical reasons, but usually that's just a single embryo or at most two, so I'm afraid that 22 is all we are going to have unless I quit the BAU and Spencer his job at St Murphy's and we move elsewhere."

"I might have a solution," Harry said.

"What?" asked Spencer immediately interested. "If there is a way for Aaron and I to have a few more children in a year or two course without making anybody suspicious I'm off for it."

"Well, I was just thinking that if you really wanted a few more children, although personally, I think 22 is plenty, there is a spell that will make people like Erin Strauss ignore the children's existences."

"Spencer and I already thought about using that spell, but felt that the IVF process was the perfect explanation," Hotch interrupted.

"That's not my whole idea," Harry said and Hotch apologized. "I was just thinking, that if you use that spell to make Strauss forget about the children's existence that that might be the solution. However, there is also a spell that isn't to difficult that Hermione found one day when she was researching something totally unrelated that will make Strauss or anybody else think that the extra children are the nieces and nephews of whichever one of you they look the most like and they will look no further for an explanation. Also they won't bother to ask if you have permanent custody or if they are just visiting as their own minds will make up a plausible explanation for the reason they're living with you."

"Wow! That sounds like the perfect solution!" Spencer said.

"Have you tested it?" asked Hotch. "I mean if it was found in some dusty book..."

"Oh, it works," Harry said with a smirk as he remembered Hermione having tested it on a particularly odious coworker who kept pestering her to go out on a date with him, even though she was married with two children of her own and a third on the way. "She tested it on one of her coworkers at the ministry that had been pestering her about going on a date with him, even though she is very happily married with two children and a third one on the way. The results were fairly hilarious if I do say so myself as I was there for the testing of it. Normally, Hermione never would've thought about testing an unknown spell on anybody, but she was so tired of this fellow's insistence that she go out on a date with him, and of him not backing off even when she told him time and again that she wasn't interested. His continuous insults about Ron didn't help matters and I have to say that Hermione finally lost her temper and normally that never happens no matter the provocation."

"So your friend, tested an unknown spell on a particularly difficult coworker?" asked Hotch.

"Yeah, she did and I was quite proud of her, because back in school she took insults from certain people because she is muggle-born, and because she surpassed then in every single class and she never retaliated, so they felt free to continue bullying and insulting her. Hermione was very rule following for the most part back then, but she learned a lot in those years and now knows how to stand up for yourself unlike when we went to school."

"So what were the results?" Spencer asked interested.

Harry told them as soon even Hotch was laughing.

"You're right that does sound hilarious," Hotch said chuckling. "You know I believe you're right and that's our solution, if we want more children in three or four years of course, after that, that will be our last batch because whatever we get the next time I think will be more than enough for us and Spencer's child carrying days will be over with. I never in a million years imagined that I would have such a large family, but I love Spencer so much and the children we have are part of that love."

"Yes, I agree, that whatever children resolved from the next two pregnancies will be more than enough for us," Spencer said.

"Just three or four children is enough for most people," Harry said, while Hotch gave his mate a look, that said they would be having a conversation about that later and Spencer ignored it for the moment, although he knew that eventually Aaron would bring up what he had said about two more pregnancies instead of just one.

"You know I need to make you copies of the journals, left by my ancestors," Spencer added. "Once you read them you'll see that my ancestors that moved to America so long ago had anywhere from 10 to 20 children and that Aaron and I have topped them all, well mostly, as there have been a few that had 25 or so."

"It would be appreciated as I know so little about my family," Harry said. "I believe I'm going to follow Susan's advice of a little while ago and bring those journals out of my vault and put them in our library so I don't have to go to Gringotts every time I want to read one. I will be happy to make you copies of them just like you are going to do for me."

"Thanks, that's appreciated," Spencer said, "as I would love to know more about my family."

The four of them continued to chat, but finally one of the house-elves who was dressed rather oddly compared to others announced that dinner was ready and so they rose and went to wash their hands before heading into the informal dining room for dinner.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Two weeks later

"I know it's hard for you to remember the war," Susan told Harry, "but I believe that Spencer and Aaron have a right to know. I didn't tell them hardly anything about that time, back when I first met them, because I felt that it wasn't my story to tell. I know they are curious, although they haven't said anything, probably since you've only known each other for a couple of weeks. I know you like both of them and that they like you to, I'm hoping that you'll visit each other frequently now that you've met. However…"

"Look, I get what you are saying," Harry said trying to hold onto his temper, since Susan was pregnant and he wasn't really mad at her anyway. The war was just not something he liked to discuss with anyone not even the other people that had been there and a part of the reason that was so was because many good people had been lost.

"Yes, a lot of good people were killed, including Fred and Colin," Susan said remembering her friends, "and I know you have more bad memories then most anybody else, which I blame Dumbledore for, but talking about it will help, because I did so with my aunt and it helped me put things into perspective and come to grips with what happened. Yes, you've talked to Sirius a little about your experiences, but not enough. You really do need to talk about what happened, even though it's been 12 years since the war ended and let it go. The deaths that happened during that time were not your fault, but Voldemort's as he was a megalomaniac and was the one that was so evil that he thought nothing of killing people for the stupidest of reasons. These deaths are not your fault, even if I know you have been conditioned to believe that it is, thanks to Dumbledore and his damn I know better then everybody else and never bothered to check on you at your relatives to make sure you were doing well philosophy. I am not saying that Albus Dumbledore was not a great man, just that he let the little things fall through the cracks, because he took on to many responsibilities. He could very well have turned you into another Voldemort and considering what you have told me of your upbringing, I'm amazed that you turned into the gentle, loving, generous man that I love so much. Keeping these feelings all bottled up isn't good for you even if I know that's your natural inclination. I can certainly understand you not wanting to discuss it with me, but you should tell your cousin, and his mate."

Harry was about to argue that it wasn't necessary, but changed his mind and said instead, "I'll tell you what, I'll place my memories into a Pensieve and let them watch what happened, but I don't want to be present for the show. After they watch it, if they have questions, which I know they probably will I'm willing to answer, but that's all."

Harry knew that his wife was right and that his distant cousin Spencer and his mate Aaron did deserve to know and he felt that he could trust both of them with anything and they would never reveal it to anybody as the four of them had indeed spent many hours just talking and getting to know each other over the last two weeks. He had learned so much about both of them and they had learned a lot about him as well and he knew that they were men of honor and integrity and would always do what was right instead of what was easy, something that Dumbledore was always harping about. Harry had to admit that he did resent Dumbledore, especially all the mistakes the former headmaster had made where it concerned him. He resented being kept in the dark, about things that concerned him and hated how Dumbledore couched everything in riddles. Dumbledore had claimed he wanted him to have normal childhood and then had never bothered to make sure that he was. The headmaster had just left him on his relatives doorstep without a by your leave, leaving nothing more then a note of explanation. Dumbledore had just assumed that because Lily was such a loving, nice person that her older sister was the same and had never bothered to have this confirmed and so Harry had every right to resent Dumbledore for his decisions where he was concerned.

"Thank you," Susan said kissing Harry on the cheek. "You'll see that talking about it will help."

"You're welcome," Harry said grateful that Susan had dropped the subject, as normally she never brought up what had happened doing the war, although she was aware that he still suffered from nightmares about that, although not as often as he had used to right after the war had ended. Harry had never been able to bring himself to talk about his experiences at least not in any great detail, but he knew deep down it would help him let it go and he knew he needed to so that he didn't turn bitter and only the fact that he was so happy with Susan, who had been his saving grace, along with his children and his friends had stopped that anger and resentment he still felt at Dumbledore and several others from getting out of hand. "Yes, I realize that talking about it will help, I've just never been able to bring myself to do that not even with Sirius who is one of the most important people in my life as you know. We all have our wounds and some are deep. I have my resentment and anger towards Dumbledore mainly, but also my relatives for their treatment me, Sirius has it against the ministry, Barty Crouch Sr. and the former Minister of Magic Millicent Bagnold for not even bothering to give him a trial and for just chucking him to Azkaban as a time of war or not Sirius should have gotten a trial, just like all the former Death Eaters, even if many of them slipped through the justice system in the end. My point is that many of us, not just Sirius and me have very deep wounds from what was done to us, even if those are just emotional and mental, instead of physical. In some ways the emotional and mental scars that so many people suffer from are worse the physical ones, because they leave wounds that sometimes heal and sometimes don't on our souls."

"I know, I know," Susan said softly, as Harry held her gently in his arms kissing her on the top of her head.

"So how is my son or daughter doing today?" Harry asked finally changing the subject, patting Susan's still flat stomach gently.

"They are fine," Susan answered and Harry caught the word they immediately.

"Twins?" asked Harry hardly believing his luck.

"Twins," Susan confirmed with a happy smile. "I just found out the other day when I went for my appointment at St. Mungo's and I've been meaning to tell you, but I just haven't had the chance. Healer Edison told me, that I'm right around the age where the twins are more common, although she really didn't expect me to be pregnant with more than one, even with the other three I've had since I'm only thirty. Women start having more twins or more around 35 or so as many woman start ovulating more. In other words, around that age a woman starts producing more than one egg at a time, and sometimes more then one gets fertilized and therefore, the result is twins, fraternal ones anyway, not identical. Healer Edison told me that I've likely just started ovulating more just a little earlier than it happens for most women as everyone is different. It helps that I've already had three children and she said that has something to do with it as well. Healer Edison said that twins are rather uncommon for a first birth unless you're Shifter or older like over 35, but since this is my fourth pregnancy it's not really all that surprising."

"So do you know the sex yet?" Harry asked, "or is it too early to tell?"

"If I was a muggle and went to a muggle doctor then yes, it would be too early to tell since I'm not even quite four months along, but since I'm a witch, magic can tell the sex earlier and so Healer Edison told me I am carrying one of each, a girl and a boy."

"This is great!" Harry said happy as he always was when he learned that he was going to have another child. "I'm so happy," Harry added picking up his wife and swinging her around he was so excited.

Susan for her part just giggled happily, since she had known from the beginning that Harry would be happy that it was twins. She had known that Harry would've been happy with anything, even if it was two boys or two girls, but having one of both was just perfect for both of them and she knew that her Aunt Amelia would be very happy as well when she was told.

Harry put his wife down, but kept his arm around her waist. "So are you going to have your tubes tied after this?" Harry asked a little tentatively.

"We'll see how it goes," Susan said cautiously. "I won't promise, that I won't want to have my tubes tied after these two are born, but I do promise we'll discuss it first."

Harry was happy they might have just a couple of more after this, but would be happy with the five beautiful children he had if Susan decided she didn't want anymore, because he knew that pregnancy wasn't exactly very easy on the body, even though there were potions you could take for the pain. He still wasn't sure how his cousin had carried as many as six babies at a time to where they were all born healthy. He had heard all about each pregnancy in great detail and how they had somebody looking after Spencer's health, and also after the babies once they were born. In fact, Hotch had informed him and Susan that they had so many that they now had six fulltime nannies, instead of the original three and that Spencer's siblings helped out to when they could.

It sounded like a very effective operation at least from he had been told, but then both men were organized and not sloppy in the least, which had a lot to do with it Harry knew. In fact, really they reminded him a great deal of one of his best friend's Hermione who was very intelligent and also very organized.

"I would never put your health at risk," Harry told her with a smile. "If you don't feel up to having anymore after this, I'll go along with it and be happy with the five children we will have. Sirius and Remus told me that my parents were planning on having enough to fill up their own Quidditch team, which means seven and if we have that many I'll be extremely happy, but if we don't that's okay to. I never imagined that I'd survive Voldemort, get married and have children of my own and was surprised when I did."

"So long as this pregnancy goes well, I'm willing to have another one after this," Susan conceded, causing Harry to grin and kiss her deeply. "I can certainly understand wanting quite a few children since I was an only child too and I know from my aunt that my parents wanted more but never had a chance to have any."

"Yes, Voldemort did a lot of damage and killed off whole family lines," Harry spat. "You know you need to think about it this way the more children we have the more they can be split between the Bones and the Potters families. If you remember we discussed having some of them take the Bones name and others taking the Potters. Now I know that technically your Aunt Amelia couldn't head of the family, but since she was the only remaining Bones old enough to take it for years she was. For now Amelia is still head of the family until our oldest son comes of age and then he will be. As for the Potters it really doesn't matter if our Lily becomes head of the family or Peter, as either is fine. The Potters apparently weren't quite as strict about a man having to be head of the family. According to the family history that Sirius has told me a man is preferred for head of house, but not necessary. There have been a few times according to Sirius anyway where the Potters only had daughters, but back then the family was much bigger, because it was before Voldemort decimated my family and many others."

"I'm still plenty young enough to have another half a dozen children if that's what we want," Susan said, "and it is the decision we will make together when the time comes, but as I told you a few days ago I don't want as many as Spencer as I'm definitely not young enough to have that many, not unless I have 4 to 6 at one time like Spencer did."

"No, I agree 22 is way too many," Harry laughed, "though we have to remember that Spencer's and Aaron's situation is a little different from ours. Aaron is a Shifter and it is quite normal for them to have six at one time, although Aaron did say that having six 3 times two of those twice in a row, is rather unusual, but not unprecedented. As for us, neither one of us is a Shifter and as far as I know neither one of us carries any of the blood, although I suppose it's possible even if it was centuries ago."

"The Bones don't," Susan said.

"I don't know if I have Shifter blood or not, since as I said I don't know much about my family history. Once I read the journals I'll be able to give you a better idea one way or the other."

"I read those journals and it doesn't mention any Shifters in the family," Susan reminded him and Harry looked startled as he had forgotten that.

"Alright, I had forgotten you had read the journals," Harry said, sheepishly. "So I suppose that means that there's no Shifters in my family tree, unless of course, they're not mentioned, because it's some sort of family secret, which is possible I suppose, but after everything I've learned about my family, well, it just doesn't seem the Potters style."

"It isn't," Susan said. "There's a lot of stories about all the old families and all I've heard or been told over the years tell me that the Potters are honest, brave, forthright and always charging in where angels fear to tread. Also they've always been Gryffindors while the Bones have always been Hufflepuffs. Also unlike some families, the Potters always love whatever children they have and would never turn one out, just because say one got bitten by a werewolf."

"Well, it is possible to end up in different house then your ancestors just look at Sirius after all, although in his case it was a good thing, since he grew up in a rather abusive home environment, while you didn't and if I had grown up with my parents like I was supposed to instead of with my aunt and uncle I wouldn't have grown up in an abusive home either."

"You know I don't usually like to say bad things about people, but I sincerely hope that Voldemort is rotting in hell and that he remains there for all eternity."

"Amen!" Harry said by way of agreement, hugging his wife close to him.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Congratulations!" Hotch exclaimed when he and Spencer heard that it was twins instead of just a single baby like Susan had originally thought.

"Yes, congratulations!" Spencer echoed. "I'm so happy for you both."

"Thank you," Susan said blushing. "My Aunt Amelia was over the moon when Harry and I went by her place to tell her."

"So do you know what the sexes are?" asked Hotch.

"According to Healer Edison, it's a boy and a girl," Harry said with a wide grin that nearly split his face in two he was so happy. "Susan and I did want another girl since we only have one and it looks like we'll get our wish."

"I don't blame you for being so happy and excited for the birth of a child is always a special event and one that is meant to be celebrated," Spencer told his cousin and his wife with a smile.

"You should know since you had 22," Susan teased the two men who took it goodnaturedly and laughed.

"And were talking about having more," Harry added with a smile.

"Oh, we will," Hotch said with a smile, "it's just a matter of timing."

"It certainly won't happen for at least another two, maybe three years, as our newest children need time to grow up a little so that they're less of a handful."

Spencer and Hotch's most recent batch of children had just turned one year old while they'd been on vacation and Harry and Susan had thrown a birthday party for them despite the two men's protests.

"Of course, since we are all here, our nannies, can take vacations of their own," Hotch added, "which I'm sure they need, as looking after so many small children isn't a walk in the park."

The four of them continued to chat, while eating their lunch and deciding what to do for the rest of the day.

"You know I've gotten an offer to teach defense against the dark arts from Headmistress McGonagall," Harry announced suddenly out of the blue.

"You have?" asked Susan as she had not known this and Harry nodded. "Are you going to take it?"

"I'm thinking about it," Harry admitted. "Being an Auror isn't what I thought it would be, especially since the war is basically over, even if they'll always be those that practice the dark arts."

"I think you should take it," Spencer offered. "We know from Susan and several of your other friends that you were always very good at that subject and that you even taught a small group during your fifth year. You should have a job that makes you happy, because if you're not happy with your work how can you be happy in your personal life? If you're not happy being an Auror anymore and teaching would make you happy I would take Professor McGonagall up on her offer."

"I agree," Susan announced. "He was so good at teaching the DA back in our fifth year, that I always thought he should become a teacher instead of a Auror, but he was determined to fight the dark arts and so I didn't want to hold him back."

"I was seriously considering it," Harry said after a moment. "I haven't been as satisfied being an Auror in the last year or so, as for one thing I'm away from home way to often and it isn't how I thought it would be, at least not anymore. McGonagall's been wanting me to teach for at least the last four or five years and I've always turned her down in the past, but I think maybe this time I'll accept. Besides, if I do become the teacher for defense against the dark arts at least I'll be home every night as only heads of houses and the headmaster or mistress have to live on the grounds during the school year. I'll owl Gawain with the bad news in the morning and owl Minerva my acceptance as well."

"Teaching kids to protect themselves, is right up your alley and you know it," Susan told her husband gently. "I always thought that you should've done that, from the time you graduated and not joined the Aurors, but it was what you wanted, so I didn't say anything."

"Yes, it was what I wanted, but being an Auror wasn't what I imagined it would be when I first chose it for a career," Harry said. "So what are everyone's plans for today?"

"Well, we thought we'd go out and do a little shopping for souvenirs and things, for certain people both magical and not back home," Spencer said. "Other than that Aaron and I don't really have any plans."

"Well, I thought maybe we could visit Hogwarts and I could show you around my old school," Harry suggested. "I wrote Minerva about finding out about relatives I never knew I had and then asking if it was okay if I brought them for a tour. The house-elves will be happy to look after your children while you're gone."

"That sounds good," Hotch said after seeing Spencer's wistful expression.

"I would also like to go by a bookstore and buy some books with spells and charms and things in it as I know some of the magic here in England is different from what we use in the States," Spencer added.

"We can do that too," Susan said. "You haven't been to Diagon Alley yet, it's our magical shopping center and you'll find Flourish and Blotts which is our bookstore, the apothecary, Eeylops Owl Emporium, Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions and Quality Quidditch Supplies, just to name a few."

"I don't think I need to worry about going in Quality Quidditch Supplies, since I don't play Quidditch and am not fond of heights. Us American magical folks don't wear robes much except for formal occasions, since we blend in better in normal muggle clothes. I'm not saying that some of the old, more traditional families don't wear robes all the time as they hate anything muggle, but for the most part..."

"You're less caught in the past like here in England and you're still heading towards the future, because there isn't a certain section of society that is bribing people in the government to maintain the status quo."

"Oh, there's still some of that going on, but not as much as most of the purebloods don't have that kind of influence," Spencer said. "I'm not saying that our government doesn't still have dishonest people working for it, but it's certainly never been as bad as you told me that the ministry here was during the war. Our Ministers are elected just like they are here, but by a vote of the community instead of by the courts and the people won't sit idly by if the minister does something they don't like. Unlike in England the people here rise up and demand changes and anybody who doesn't do what they demand will find themselves thrown out on their ass, unless they have a very good reason."

The four continued to chat and learn more about each other until it was quite late and time for bed.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Animagus? What's an Animagus?" asked Hotch in confusion, as he was unfamiliar with the term that Remus Lupin had mentioned, as he told stories about Harry's father, godfather and himself when they went to school together.

Sirius Black sat on one side of the table with his very pretty wife Elisa and 4 children, all boys, although Elisa was heavily pregnant this time with twins, both girls which seemed to be a reoccurring theme lately. Sirius was in his late forties, but Elisa was ten years younger and the two had met in the Order of the Phoenix, hit it off and gotten married shortly after the war was over and their first son had come along less then a year after that. Spencer and Hotch had since learned that Sirius had been thrown in the wizarding prison Azkaban without a trial accused of the death of Harry's parents, had escaped and only been cleared once the war was over and Kingsley Shacklebolt had taken over as minister. The ministry had been so corrupt back then, that they had thought a fair and just trial was unnecessary, which had been thanks to the former Minister of Magic Millicent Bagnold and head of magical law enforcement at that time Barty Crouch. Remus Lupin was also married to Sirius's cousin who was fifteen years younger by the name of Nymphadora Tonks Lupin, although she preferred to be called just Tonks since she hated her first name with a passion and would hex anyone who called her by it, except for Remus. The two of them had five children and Tonks was pregnant again with her last or so she claimed. Remus was also a werewolf as Hotch had figured it out shortly after meeting him, because the wolf Shifter in him recognized another wolf, but one that was somehow different to him and that was how the whole story had come out about how he had been bitten as a child and how werewolves had been treated until Kingsley had taken over as minister, and still were in some cases. Remus had been so afraid that Hotch and Spencer wouldn't accept him because he had been treated so badly for all of his life because of what he was that it was wrapped up in how he saw himself. Many people had been nasty or rejected him once they found out what he was, so that there was some truth in what Remus had believed. Spencer had then told him quite calmly that there was a cure for werewolves in America and that he worked at a hospital in Virginia where a werewolf's blood was replaced and more then 90 percent of the time this was successful in getting rid of the werewolf virus since it became part of the blood after they were bitten. Hotch remembered how Tonks had looked shocked that there was a possible solution and Remus had looked disbelieving, but was willing to try anything to get rid of this curse that had followed him ever since he was bitten at just six years old. It had been decided that Tonks would take off from her Auror duties in the summer as Remus would be free then to since he taught history of magic and had started shortly after the war ended. Spencer had already made it clear that the Lupins would be staying with the two of them and he would not hear of it being otherwise saying that they had plenty of room and Sirius had also been grateful for Spencer's and Hotch's caring of his best friend and had thanked them profusely.

"An Animagus is a witch or wizard who can turn into an animal shape, but it varies from person to person as no two people's animal is exactly alike," Spencer explained before anyone else could. "It is a very difficult technique to master and you need to be really good in transfiguration in order to do it. There is a potion you can brew that will tell you your animal shape and whether or not you want to actually try to become the animal that is inside you."

"Well, you certainly know a lot about it," Remus said with a twitch of his lips.

"He knows a lot about every subject you can imagine, since he reads about everything under the sun and has more obscure trivia stored in his head then any fifty people," Hotch told everyone causing Spencer to blush. "I know he would make a good edition to the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit where I work, since we could use his rather obscure knowledge, but he's happy at St. Murphy's and that's all that matters."

"And you would be together more if you worked together," Sirius suggested with a smirk.

Spencer blushed while Hotch also smirked telling Sirius he had been right on the money in his comment, not in the least embarrassed to be figured out so easily.

"We would be together almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in other words, almost all the time, although we would have to separate sometimes to do our jobs, but still we would be together much more than we are now since I'm gone so much. I have enough favors I can use to pull him directly into the BAU without him having to be part of another unit first and I would gladly call all of them in if Spencer decided to go through the Academy."

"You know I'm an Animagus and so was Harry's father. I can get you started if that's what you want, and I can also recommend some books for you to read that describes the process and the potion that is required," Sirius said demonstrating by turning into his black dog form and then turning back. "The potion is pretty complicated and you drink it to determine what animal you should be trying to become. The Animagus transformation doesn't work for the Shifters that have the magical ability because they already are an animal."

"You know I've often wondered over the years if Shifters came somehow from Animagi," Remus said. "It could be true, since nobody knows where Shifters originally come from and there have been wolf Animagi, cat Animagi, bear Animagi in the past. It is very rare when a magical person doesn't have the ability to become Animagus, though it has happened. However, I'm wondering if some kind of spell or curse was placed on some Animagi wizards and witches sometime so long ago that it has been forgotten about to where these Animagi could pass down their forms to their offspring. I suppose we'll never know, since nobody remembers how Shifters came to be, and there is never been anything found about this that was written down."

"You know you might very well be right," Spencer mused looking thoughtful. "If anything ever was written down it's either been very well hidden and has not yet been discovered or more likely it's turned to dust. We'll probably never know one way or the other, but what you say makes sense and as good a theory where Shifters originally come from as any. You know I wouldn't mind brewing the potion and taking it just to see what my form was and if I just happened to be a wolf like Aaron I would definitely try the transformation as that means we could go running in the woods together and if I wasn't I wouldn't have to do the actual transformation."

"You do know that the likelihood of you being a wolf like Aaron are...Well probably no more than one or two percent at most," Remus cautioned.

"Oh, I know," Spencer assured everyone, "but still it would not hurt to see for myself."

"So what the other witches and wizards in the FBI?" asked Susan, speaking for the first time in quite awhile though she had been listening to the conversation.

"Probably," Hotch said with a shrug. "I don't know for sure since witches and wizards are not supposed to reveal what they are. I know that there are none in my unit, except Penelope Garcia Morgan our technical analyst but other than that, no."

"A lot of wizards and witches do not necessarily work just in the American wizarding world like they do over here," Spencer said. "Quite a few of them have every day muggle jobs and only use their magic, when they are at home. Of course, we're also less… traditional over there then they are here."

"You mean less stuck up," Sirius corrected with a smirk causing everyone to laugh.

"Well, the British are very conservative, which has a lot to do with it," Spencer said with a shrug. "A lot of them just want to maintain the status quo. Of course, ever since the war the British wizarding world is getting better at least from what Harry and Susan have said, but I know your society has a long way to go."

"So are Animagi common in America?" asked Harry.

"No," Spencer answered, "and in fact it seems to be a very forgotten art. From what little bit I have read about it I know it's very difficult to do and you have to be really good at transfiguration in order to accomplish it. You really need a mentor who is a Animagus themselves in order to guide you through the transformation, although a lot of people go through it by themselves and it takes much longer, and it is possible to get stuck with a paw or some other animal part."

"Oh, yes, I well remember how James was stuck with a deer tail for awhile," Sirius said laughing uproariously. "Of course, we didn't have a mentor and figured out how to do it from some of the books we read from the library. At the time we wanted to surprise Remus, so he wasn't involved and we all were determined to keep it from him until we succeeded."

"I couldn't become an Animagus since I was a werewolf and therefore, my animal totem was already taken, even if I can't change voluntarily like an Animagus can," Remus said.

"Well, if this replacing your blood works, then maybe you can't become one if you want," Harry told his honorary uncle.

"We'll see," Remus said cautiously.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"You know Aaron, I've been thinking," Spencer said, as the two men snuggled in bed together. It had been a wonderful evening where Hotch and Spencer had gotten to meet some of Susan's and Harry's family and friends.

"About what?" Hotch asked curiously.

"Well, you mentioned about me joining the FBI," Spencer began.

"Well, I would like nothing more, but I would never force you to go through training since it is quite arduous," Hotch said. "Not the academic portion, as you would pass every test easily, but the physical training isn't exactly a walk in the park. I well remember my own days at the Academy, and it was far from easy. So are you thinking about going to the Academy?" asked Hotch

"Well, yes, I was," Spencer admitted.

"Why? I thought you were happy at St. Murphy's," asked Hotch.

"And I am for the most part," Spencer said. "It was a nice safe option while my siblings were still so young, but now even Hudson and Bronwyn have graduated and are out of the house. I've been thinking about this for the last year or so, because I really do miss you a whole lot when you're gone sometimes for a week or more at a time, although that's not the only reason of course, but it is the main one. I'm sure if I had never met you that I would've been happy being a healer for the rest of my life, but ever since the two of us met, well at least for the last three or four years, I've been thinking that I can do more with my life then correct spell damage, on people who don't perform a spell properly or because they mispronounce a spell, or because somebody cast a spell on somebody and then they don't know how to reverse it or refuse to or a spell just goes wrong because a person's wand is broken. There are many inapt magical people in the world, just like there're muggles or Shifters and I'm getting tired of correcting spell damage, just because somebody has been an idiot. Now I grant you I can just transfer to another department, maybe work with children or infants, but you were right when you said that I'd fit in at the BAU and we both know this is not the first time you have voiced such an opinion and I know you wouldn't have said it if you didn't mean it."

"No, I wouldn't have," Hotch said, as he thought about his mate's words. "I'm not like some people who compliment someone automatically whether they mean them or not, and I never want you to think that any compliment I give you I don't mean."

"I don't, because I know you're not that type of person," Spencer promised him. "I know whenever you compliment me you mean what you say and that means the world to me, however, back to what we were discussing."

"Well, I'm not against it," Hotch said, "and I won't think any less of you if you drop out because the physical training is extremely arduous, but I have to admit even after being pregnant four times you're in excellent physical shape, although I know you worked to get back to your former shape and weight, well except for the few extra pounds I suggested you keep, so your body would look more filled out."

"You do know I exercise when I have time, which is usually at least two or three times a week," Spencer said.

"Well, yes, I know I use the equipment that you bought for our house to as that way I don't have to go to the gym or run in the park. Don't get me wrong I would like nothing more than for you to go through the FBI Academy at Quantico, but I want to make sure you want to do it because it's something you want not just as a way for us to spend more time together."

"This is something I want," Spencer assured his mate. "I'm not really satisfied with being a healer anymore, because it just doesn't use enough of my brain if you know what I mean. I can do my job in my sleep, which is one of the reasons you are always finding me doing some type of research. I know I was born, with a high IQ and I'm sure if it's ever measured it will be at a genius level and that's not meant to brag, I'm just stating fact."

"The instructors will do that at the FBI Academy," Hotch told Spencer who nodded, "and I agree with you by the way that you're way more intelligent then any 10 people put together. I know part of that is that you remember anything you read or see, but that's not the whole equation. Some people will read something and they could tell you what it said, but they wouldn't understand what it meant like a complicated mathematical theorem for example, but you do, even if that's not your passion. You do realize however, if you do join the FBI that would mean having no more pups, because there is no way we could explain you being pregnant. If we did happen to have more I would never let you go out in the field if you were carrying our pups."

"I know that," Spencer said quietly. "If I do this I know my babymaking days are over, however, we do have 22 and we got lucky and got an equal number of each, so I'm fine with that. I know we said we wanted more, but I'm perfectly happy with the nearly 2 dozen we do have. I'm not saying I would be against having more, but that's because I have a nice safe job at St. Murphy's at least right now."

"Being a field agent can be dangerous," Hotch warned him and Spencer nodded having already known this.

"I know," Spencer said. "I have read every single book on the subject I can get my hands on including your colleague and friend David Rossi as you know. I have looked on the official website and read everything that it contained, and you have to remember that I now have a Shifter's healing ability thanks to the initial mating and the two wedding rituals, so I will be a lot harder to kill just as you are."

"You could be a big help to us," Hotch admitted. "The only problem I see is that you never went to college because you were busy raising your brothers and sisters. Yes, you took classes over the internet to get your degrees, but I'm not sure if the FBI Academy will accept that."

"Years ago they probably wouldn't have accepted an online degree simply because there were so many fake schools out there in cyberspace that gave you fake degrees," Spencer said, "but so long as you take courses from an accredited college that offers courses online than they should accept it and if they don't then they don't. I took courses from Caltech, and yes, it cost me a bundle, but it's not like I couldn't afford it, although I know actually living on campus and taken the actual physical classes would have been far cheaper. Besides, I've done my research and the FBI, accepts online degrees, especially if you are doing it online because you have other commitments like raising your children or your siblings and therefore, don't have time to actually sit the classes, as it shows that you are good at multitasking and are committed."

"Well, there's no harm in trying," Hotch agreed, "although the application process is rather difficult and weeds out a lot of those who apply every year. You have all the right qualifications and really the only thing I'm concerned about is the background check, not because you have committed any kind of crime, but just worried that they'll find out something that they shouldn't, or worse yet not find you in any database."

"I don't think you have to worry about that," Spencer smirked which was a rather unusual expression on his face. "Me and my siblings are in all the appropriate databases thanks to our father being a muggle. We were home taught, but that shouldn't matter since thousands of Americans do that every year and we were registered with the appropriate department that we were all taught from home and had private tutors, which is absolutely true."

"Well, so long as you sure you have all your bases covered," Hotch said, "I have no objection, although we have to think about the children you know."

"We'll discuss it with Amelia, before we make any definite decisions, but I'm sure she can handle looking after the youngest, with the help of her granddaughters, who are growing into fine young women."

Harmony and Haven were now 15 and 13 respectively and were turning into beautiful young women that would have the boys panting after them.

"Our oldest six are old enough to help look after their younger siblings and they should be given some responsibilities anyway, so they don't become spoiled brats," Spencer said.

"Yes, it's time," Hotch agreed. "The oldest are nearly 7, and sure they have chores like keeping their rooms clean, but they're old enough now to start helping look after their younger siblings."

"Yes, I think seven is the perfect age to start to learn responsibility and we'll make sure they know that Amelia has authority over them while we are gone and that they will be punished by me when we get home if they misbehave. We'll tell them that they are not to slack off in their studies and that they are to listen to their tutor, and do their homework just like normal."

"You do realize that we're going to be separated for 20 weeks why you go through training," Hotch said. "I really don't like that part of it, even if I know it's necessary."

"It will be hard," Spencer admitted, "as I'll miss you outrageously, but it will be worth it in the end, because this means we'll be together so much more than we are now. I mean you're gone for days at a time and you barely get a break when you're home for more than a day or two. If I go through the training and you're sure you can get me into the BAU, we will be together almost constantly, except like you mentioned last night when we have to separate and go to different crime scenes."

"Alright then," Hotch said. "I can do it and let you go through the training at Quantico, but…when you're done expect to be kept in bed, for at least a week or more depending on how many cases we have. Every spare minute we have, when are home we'll either be spending with our pups or in bed. We've never been without each other for that long before and I'm not sure, how I'm going to handle being separated from you for such a long time. Of course, we've been together nearly 10 years now, so our bond is no longer new so it should be a little easier for both of us to cope without the other."

"We'll manage, because after this so long as I pass and graduate, we'll be together nearly all the time, we'll be sharing a hotel room when we are in some strange city and we'll never have to sleep alone again."

"Which is a really great added bonus," Hotch commented causing Spencer to laugh.

"Yes, it is," Spencer agreed. "You know I have time to get pregnant one more time, before classes start at Quantico in June next year since it is still nine months until then. True if we do it that way our children will only be a couple months old at most when training starts, but it isn't like I'll be feeding them, because I have breasts and anybody can feed them formula and have for the others."

"It's awfully soon after your last pregnancy," Hotch said. "It's only been a year after all."

"Yes, that's true," Spencer admitted.

"You really shouldn't get pregnant again this soon after you get day birth, especially since you did it twice within a short period of time."

"You know what's a concern," Spencer said suddenly, "what if the background check includes, doing an investigation of how we had a family? That IVF story would never hold water in that case."

"They shouldn't do to intensive background on that," Hotch said thinking about it, "I mean they'll do a background check on you and they'll ask you a lot of questions. They will ask some questions about the children, but you can simply tell them that you used part of your inheritance to go through the IVF process and used your sister's DNA, with her permission, so they would look like both of us."

"But they'll went to investigate that, won't they?" asked Spencer thinking that maybe joining the FBI wasn't a good idea after all.

"Well, they will want to question your employer, your friends, your associates, you'll have to take a polygraph test..."

"Maybe I should just forget about it then," Spencer said. "I had no idea that a background check would be so evasive and dig up a lot of personal history. I mean I did go to school, but it's not one that would be recognized by the muggles in the FBI."

"So just tell them you were homeschooled, which has the advantage of being the truth, just like you suggested earlier," Hotch said.

"I was only homeschooled until I was ready to go and learn about magic though," Spencer said. "The school I went to after I turned 11 won't be listed, so it would be hard to question my classmates."

"As much as I hate to suggest this, maybe we could have Garcia do a little computer fiddling," Hotch said. "Have a change your history in the areas that would be suspect."

"Well, she could do it," Spencer admitted, "and not be caught to, but that is so dishonest, and I know that upsets you to even suggest such a thing, so you must really want me to work with you."

"I do," Hotch admitted. "The wolf in me is delighted at the idea that we'll be together more and is letting me know, that I better do everything in my power to make it happen. The wolf doesn't care that it is dishonest if we do it this way, but you'll never pass the background check otherwise. I would never even suggest such a thing as changing your records, If I didn't know that you weren't completely ethical and honest."

"Well, other wizards and witches I'm sure have gone into the FBI, and I'm also sure there are certain areas of their past that aren't in any computer records," Spencer said. "Some magical folks attend elementary school, until they are 11 and go to whatever magical school they attend. After that unfortunately, there is a big blank area from the time they are 11 until they are 17 or 18, since to most muggles the magical schools that a witch and wizard attend do not exist. Luckily, most things are on computer now and Garcia's perfectly capable of inserting records that say I and my siblings attended say the Las Vegas public high school."

"She can also do records for our children saying that we used an IVF treatment, and insert the reports into the proper computers. By the time Garcia is done it will look authentic. I hate having to do it this way, but if you're sure this is the course that you want to take then I'm willing to," Hotch said.

"Yes, this is what I want to do, as I feel as if I can do a lot of good as a member of your unit," Spencer said. "I feel as if I can do more good as a profiler than I ever have been as a healer, because you've often said that I have a real flair for finding facts, and recognizing patterns which nobody else spots."

"You do," Hotch immediately agreed. "I've been amazed ever since I met you how your mind recognizes patterns, that others always miss and I'm not sure if that's linked to your intelligence or it's just instinctive, but you have a way of looking at things and patterns or words just seem to jump right out at you."

"You think Garcia will agree to do this for me?" Spencer asked.

"Yes, she will, as she's fiercely protective of those she loves," Hotch answered immediately. "I never told you this, but she was on the FBI's list as either one of a handful of very useful or very dangerous hackers in the world. We did a background check on her, and found every time she hacked into some computer it was mostly to protect, something like animals who were being used in experiments, like at a cosmetic company. We all know that Garcia has a soft spot for any type of animal and this is finally what she was brought in for. She was offered a position with the FBI as a technical analyst for the BAU or she could go to prison and you know what one she chose."

"Was there any doubt?" asked Spencer not really surprised at what he had learned. "Because we both know that a Shifter particularly a cat or wolf Shifter doesn't do very well being confined as they like to be free."

"No, there really was no doubt," Hotch admitted. "I doubt that Garcia would have lasted very long in prison not only because she is a cat Shifter, but because the other prison inmates would've eaten her alive. She either would've gotten out of prison totally changed from who we know or she would've ended up committing suicide."

"I'm glad that didn't happen," Spencer's said with a shudder. "If she had been put in prison and even if she survived she wouldn't be the same outrageous, cheerful and bubbly Penelope Garcia Morgan we all know and love. It's quite possible that she would've become very bitter against the world, or at least those that put her in prison in the first place and become even more dangerous."

"It has happened in the past," Hotch admitted and Spencer nodded having already known this. "You know in a way asking Garcia to do this is a good thing as it will protect our children in the future if they're in the computer records," added Hotch changing the subject.

"That's true," Spencer admitted, "even if neither one of us likes doing it this way, as it goes against our ethics."

"So have you decided to give it a try?" asked Hotch. "Should I ask Garcia to come to dinner so we can discuss changing your records?"

"Yes," Spencer answered. "You'll have to invite Morgan to and he probably won't be happy with what we're planning to do."

"Probably not, but he will see the necessity of it anyway," Hotch said, "and he won't say anything, even if he doesn't like it. You could ask Garcia to do this on the sly while the team was on a case, but it might come out sometime and Morgan will be rightfully furious that it was kept from him, especially since Garcia is his wife."

"Also there's no guarantees that Garcia would agree to do it without telling Morgan anyway, as keeping secrets in a marriage is a good way to ruin one, True Mates or not. I'm not saying they would separate, which is impossible anyway, but it would poison their relationship and even if they worked it out in the end there would be a lot of hurt and anger on both sides. No, I would never do that to them, so it's better to be honest from the start and get Morgan in on it from the beginning."

"Yes, I totally agree," said Hotch with a nod. "There're no guarantee that Morgan wouldn't figure out there was something going on anyway since he's good at reading body language and all the little signs that tell you when someone is lying so it's just better to be completely honest from the beginning and besides, Garcia is a lousy liar, so it would almost definitely come out."

"So shall I ask Addison to put those spells back on me so I can get pregnant again?" asked Spencer.

"No," Hotch said empathically, "I think the 22 we have is more than enough."

Spencer didn't protest, because he partly agreed with his mate, but then he also partly disagreed to. He knew he was a man but he had found his four pregnancies to be incredibly easy at least compared to what he had heard from other women or read about. Of course, he realized that he had potions he could take to help with the pain associated with pregnancy, especially in the latter stages. Oh, he was still carrying a great deal of extra weight around, but he hadn't felt the pain from carrying so many babies at one time, just the extra weight. Of course, if he'd had to give birth naturally he was sure his opinion would be different.

"You're right as much as it pains me to admit it, and it's not for the reason you probably think, either," Spencer said. "It's because I would never lose that baby weight before the fall classes at Quantico. It took me months to get back to my normal weight, after two of my pregnancies, and it would've been all four if I hadn't had two of them so close together. I don't want to still have baby weight to lose when it comes time to go to the Academy. I don't want to be rejected, because I am overweight which has happened in the past."

"A good point and something I hadn't thought of," Hotch admitted.

The two continued to discuss it for a few minutes, before they drifted off to sleep in each other's arms, their legs tangled together so thoroughly that it would be impossible to separate them without some work and that was the way they both liked it.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	13. Chapter 13

"How was your trip?" Rossi asked, as Hotch came out of the elevator dressed once again in a suit looking relaxed and happy. "You look relaxed."

"Our trip was great," Hotch told Rossi with a wink. "Spencer and I had a good time. We got to meet Spencer's very distant cousin, see some of the sites and the like. Really it was like a honeymoon since Spencer and I never really had one before."

"Well, you certainly look like you enjoyed yourself," Morgan said. "I don't think I've ever seen you this relaxed, since I've known you."

"Yes, as I was just telling Dave, Spencer and I did enjoy ourselves very much. Harry even took some time off to spend with us and they got to know our children a little and we got to know theirs. They have three, but Harry and Susan are expecting two more in a few months, a boy and a girl and they told us just before we were to leave that the boy will be named Aaron Spencer and Spencer was asked to be the godfather."

"Wow! That's really amazing considering that you haven't known each other that long," JJ said coming out of the office, having overheard what Hotch was saying.

"Yes, it is a great honor," Hotch said solemnly. "Spencer was very pleased when he was asked and he accepted, even if they don't get to see each other very much. As for the girl, I was asked to be the godfather for her and they are going to name her Althea Siena."

"So your trip was rather eventful," Rossi commented and Hotch nodded.

"It was, but relaxing and fun as well," Hotch agreed.

In more ways than one, Hotch added in his thoughts. He kept to himself for the moment that Spencer was planning on going to the FBI Academy, and didn't want to jinx it, even if he didn't normally believe in such things. The wolf in his chest had quieted down now that he knew his mate was at least going to try to go to the FBI Academy in nine months time, although he was really excited and could hardly wait to see if his mate succeeded and then join him at the BAU, because he intended to pull in every favor that people owed him if necessary to make sure that Spencer was assigned to his unit as him ending up in another unit was out of the question and would see Spencer quit before his career even began.

"In any case, Spencer and I enjoyed ourselves and we were sorry to have our vacation come to an end," Hotch said.

"I don't blame you for that," Emily said coming from the direction of Garcia's office. "It's always hard to go back to work after you've been gone for awhile."

Emily would never admit to anybody but she had a huge crush on her boss Aaron Hotchner, even though she knew that Hotch was very happily mated with Spencer Reid, whom she had met quite a few times. She had to admit that the two of them seemed suited to each other, and so she knew she stood no chance with Aaron Hotchner. If she did try to come between Hotch and his True Mate she knew she would find herself soundly rebuffed and she was sure that Hotch would find a way to legally throw her off the team without losing his own job if she tried, so therefore, she never let anybody know of her feelings for the other man even if she thought the two of them would be suited for each other.

They might be suited, but Emily was sure that she wouldn't be half as suited as Spencer Reid seemed to be and she had to admit that she liked the quiet, intelligent, compassionate man that was her boss's mate. If she hadn't liked him so much she would have had no trouble trying to come between him and Hotch, if she thought she could get the man she had a crush on away from him, but the likelihood of that was zero so she didn't bother to try.

"Even if you love your job," Emily added.

"Yeah, it's going to be hard getting back into the swing of things for the first few days," Hotch agreed, "but I don't regret being gone for so long, because both Spencer and I needed a vacation."

"Which I've told for how long before you actually did it?" asked Rossi entering the conversation. "None of us might not like to take the time off, because it leaves the team shorthand, but we all know we'll burn out much quicker if we don't take significant time to decompress occasionally."

"Alright, fine, you were right," Hotch admitted grudgingly.

"Maybe next time you'll listen to me soon when I say you need to take a vacation," Rossi told Hotch smugly.

"There's no need to rub it in," Hotch told Rossi glaring at him half playfully.

"I'm not rubbing it in," Rossi told his old friend. "I'm simply pointing out the fact that you should have listened to me far sooner than you did."

"I believe that's considered rubbing it in, Rossi," Morgan told the older man with a grin.

Rossi didn't answer, probably because he knew that Hotch and Morgan were right.

"Well, I'll be in my office if we catch a case, I know I have a ton of paperwork to catch up on, since I was gone for a month," Hotch said striding towards his office without another word.

"Well, that's one way to end a conversation," Emily commented drily causing the others to laugh.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

A month later

"So you're really going to do it?" asked Hotch. "You're really going to try to do this Animagus transformation that Sirius was telling you about?"

"Yes, I am," Spencer told him, "if that's alright with you. We already know that I'm a wolf thanks to that potion I brewed and took. I was amazed that I actually was a wolf, but since we both know that I am I'd like to do the transformation. I can think of several advantages to this, one of them being that I'll be able to join you when you want to go for a run and I'm sure I'll enjoy it just as much as you do."

"It would be nice if we could run together," Hotch admitted sounding wistful. "I enjoy transforming into my wolf form as you know and going for a run. I could even teach you what it's like to be a wolf and to eat your food raw and how to catch it."

"I'm not sure I like that part of it so much," Spencer admitted grimacing. "Besides, I'll be an Animagus not a real wolf, as I'll still have my human mind and not the wolf instincts. However, if you want to teach me to track and other wolfish skills, besides,that one I'll gladly learn."

"Well, I admit I don't use that one much," Hotch admitted easily with a smile for his mate, "but I can catch something and eat it raw if I have to, although I'll admit I do prefer my food cooked. Are you sure this isn't dangerous? Sirius did say that this was a very difficult piece of magic to learn."

"Not dangerous as in it would threaten my life," Spencer promised him. "More dangerous in the fact that you could get stuck with a paw or a tail, but that could be corrected at St. Murphy's, so it wouldn't be permanent."

"How long do you think this will take?" asked Hotch.

"It varies from person to person," Spencer answered honestly, "but I should be able to transform by the time I go to the FBI Academy. I've heard the first transformation is pretty painful, because it's the first time your bones reshape for your new form, but after that it gets easier. I think I could transform into a wolf for the first time after a few months, if I spend an hour or two working on it everyday. That you're gone so much is an advantage in this case, as that means I will have plenty of time to devote to it."

"Alright then," Hotch decided, "so long as you are sure it's not a risk to your life go ahead and do it. I hope you can accomplish it, because I'm looking forward to running with you through the forest."

"I should be able to in two, three months tops," Spencer answered. "Once I do transform into a wolf for the first time I'm going to have to learn how to walk on 4 feet and I'll be very tired afterwards until I learn how to not think about what I'm doing and let the wolf part of me coordinate it's own feet."

"So if you're going to have to learn how to walk on 4 feet it's going to be awhile before you can run," Hotch summarized.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Spencer admitted. "The knowledge and instincts are there once you transform into whatever animal you are, but it takes awhile to learn how to do those things and move like the animal you transform into and also act like them."

"Well, anything worth doing is easy and takes time, patience and concentration, all of which you have an abundance," Hotch said with just a hint of pride.

"You also have to be good at transfiguration, which I am," Spencer told his mate. "Transfiguration is one of the most difficult branches of magic and as I told you awhile back a lot of witches and wizards aren't very good at it. However, the Potters have always been particularly gifted with this branch of magic and since I do have Potter of blood, it seems that being good at that subject has passed to me as well, as it doesn't necessarily matter how intelligent you are you will still be crappy at certain things like transfiguration. Actually most of my siblings are pretty good at it even Chance."

"Well, Chance was a good student and it was only after he graduated that his wild side took over," Hotch reminded Spencer who nodded.

"Believe me, I know it," Spencer said with a depressed sigh, "still, I wish he would listen to me and stop partying and whoring so much."

"Well, he is an adult," Hotch pointed out, "supposedly capable of making his own choices. I'm not saying his choices are good ones, just that they're his."

"Yeah, I know there's nothing I can do, except try to talk to him again," Spencer sighed running a hand through his dark brown hair, looking, frustrated sad and despondent. "I just don't want Chance to destroy himself and that's exactly what he's doing."

"Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it," Hotch told him drawing his mate into his arms and holding him close.

The two men were silent for a long time until finally, Spencer looked up from where he had his face buried in his mate's neck and kissed Aaron deeply, which the older man immediately responded to and it wasn't long before the two of them were heading upstairs to their bedroom as their desire for each other had never waned in all the years they had been mated and so they still made love at least two or three times a day when they were home and even when they had to work they made love in the morning before they had to rise for the day, although that was more a quick fuck to relieve their desire for each other then a long lovemaking session.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"You want Penelope to do what?" asked Morgan so completely shocked that he had trouble talking for a minute as his mind assimilated what he had heard.

It was once again the weekend, although it was over two months after Spencer and Hotch had gotten back from their vacation, because they had caught a case soon after Hotch and Spencer had returned from their vacation and it had been almost nonstop at work since. It was as if the gods were telling Hotch that he shouldn't have ever been gone and that this was their revenge.

For a couple of weeks Hotch thought he would be buried under the paperwork and he'd had to stay late most nights in order to catch up, but finally things had quieted down a little, although Hotch knew that it wouldn't stay quiet for very long.

"You heard us the first time," Hotch told Morgan. "You both know how useful Spencer would be as a member of the BAU and this is the only way I can see for him pass the background check and not because he's committed a crime or has a criminal record and we're trying to hide it, but simply because his background is kind of skimpy in certain areas, like where he went to school at 11. The background check would not find any listing for the school that Spencer attended and it might open a hornet's nest."

"Alright," Morgan conceded. "I can understand that and I admit that we could use Spencer's expertise on certain cases, but you shocked the bloody hell out of me, as I never thought you would agree to such a thing as changing someone's records."

"And normally I wouldn't," Hotch said, "as you know, but we all know that Spencer is completely honest, and his ethics are airtight, which is the only reason I suggested this course of action. If he wasn't a wizard, this wouldn't be necessary. Garcia how did you get into the BAU considering that you're not only a Shifter, but a witch?"

"I had to change my history a little," Garcia admitted. "Actually the more appropriate term would be to flesh out certain areas that were rather skimpy. Like I did go to school, but I went to Salem Institute of Magic, and nobody but other witches and wizards or those associated with them have ever heard of it, because to most muggles and Shifters it doesn't exist."

"You did?" Morgan asked his mate in surprise.

"I did, I just fabricated where I went to school after I turned 11 and made sure the records matched, but other than that I didn't do anything," Garcia admitted. "I did attend a regular school with muggle children and so did my brothers up until then. After that though me and my brothers kind of dropped off the charts until after graduation, except in the summers."

"Can you do it without leaving any tracks or getting caught?" asked Morgan.

"Yes," Garcia answered immediately. "Technology back then wasn't as good as it is today and I did it off a very old desktop computer before, a computer that is now a dinosaur and obsolete and if I can do something like flesh out my records off a very slow old obsolete computer, I can definitely do it on the newer ones and faster too."

"Well, okay then," Morgan said finally. "I'm assuming you planning to pull him directly into the BAU?" Morgan added looking at Hotch.

"Yes, as I don't believe he would fit in half as well anywhere else," Hotch answered calmly, not mentioning that there was no way in hell he'd allow Spencer to work for another department and not because he didn't trust him, but just because he truly believed that Spencer wouldn't fit into another unit half as well as he would into the BAU and besides other agents were likely to resent him for his intelligence if nothing else, since a lot of them were incredibly arrogant and full of themselves. Most other agents would never appreciate Spencer for his many talents and would likely try their best to hold him back from getting promoted out of shear jealousy. "He's athletic enough so passing the physical requirements should be no problem, and he could pass all the academic tests in his sleep, it was only the background check that was going to prevent him from getting into the Academy."

"I thought you enjoyed being a healer?" Garcia asked Spencer who had been silent up until now.

"And I did at first," Spencer admitted. "Also it was the nice, safe option while my siblings were still so young and I would never have chosen such a dangerous profession when I was their only means of support, but even Hudson and Bronwyn are all grown up now and have jobs of their own and control over their trust funds. I'm also now finding myself dissatisfied more and more with the life of a healer, fixing spell damage for idiots that should have known better for the most part or know how to fix what they did to themselves. Unfortunately, being a healer just doesn't take most of my brainpower and I could mostly do my job in my sleep, except for unusual cases."

"You both know that Spencer is extremely intelligent, and the instructors at the FBI Academy may have to create an IQ test just for him if the current ones aren't able to accurately measure his intelligence quotient."

"Are you sure that the higher-ups are going to allow you and Spencer to work together since you are mated?" asked Morgan. "Yes, Penelope and I do, but she isn't a field agent, which does make a difference as you know. Besides, we had already worked together for years before we ever got together, which also had something to do with it."

"I truly believe that they'll give us a chance to prove we can work together and act professionally," Hotch said. "None of the people that are higher-up like the director or deputy director are stupid, with the possible exception of Strauss, who would try to keep Spencer out of the unit out of sheer spite and not because he isn't qualified. However, I don't believe she'll succeed, because I am well respected within the bureau. Oh, there'll be many eyes scrutinizing our every action for at least the first six months or so, but after that once it can be proven that we can work together without our personal life interfering, things will get back to normal."

"You do know that this is going to create resentment with certain other FBI agents, who will see Spencer as receiving special treatment, no matter how qualified he is," Morgan said. "There have been, agents from other units who have tried to get into the BAU for years and been rejected. They won't care that they were, rejected because they didn't have the proper skills, or the proper temperament to be part of our unit, they'll see Spencer getting into the most prestigious unit in the FBI, directly after graduation from the Academy and rightfully or wrongly resent him for it. He will be above other FBI agents in rank and authority and that will cause some agents to scream favoritism, that this fresh out of the Academy graduate would be pulled directly into the unit that a lot of agents seek to be part of."

"Aaron and I have discussed this quite extensively," Spencer said speaking up, "and we know that there is going to be a lot of resentment, even after I prove that I deserve to be in the BAU, simply because I didn't go the normal career route. A lot of that resentment will die down once I prove myself, but there will be some that will outright hate me, simply because some agents will feel that I took a spot in the BAU that should have belonged to them and it won't matter that it was the higher-ups decision. Part of that resentment will be because Hotch and I are technically married and they'll know he called in numerous favors on my behalf. Some will think that we should be in different units and not work together like we do, even after we prove our ability to work professionally together, that will still be true. However, both Aaron and I believe that once a majority of other agents see that I got into the unit, because of my profound intelligence, even if Aaron called in favors to get me there, as he knows I wouldn't fit nearly as well anywhere else, that the resentment will die down a lot. There will still be some of course, but then people resent anybody who has something they want no matter how it was acquired and agents of the FBI are no different since they are human after all."

"You're right," Morgan agreed after thinking about it for a moment. "I believe like Hotch does that you wouldn't fit anywhere, except the BAU as our unit is perfect for you, almost tailormade and where you could truly put your talents to work."

"Good, it's decided then," Hotch said pleased, as he had really expected more of an argument out of Morgan at least, but maybe he should have realized that Morgan knew Spencer almost as well as he did, since the two had been friends for years now and realized that his mate would never truly fit into another, unit even if he would do the job. Most of the other agents wouldn't respect his ability, and would just consider him a know-it-all and unfortunately, there were agents in charge at field offices that would try to keep him down and from ever advancing his career because of jealousy, which was why Hotch knew that pulling him into the BAU, where the agents already knew him and considered him a friend was the best option. Spencer would never end up at a field office in some distant city, since the two of them were mates, even if they had never had a formal ceremony like Garcia and Morgan had or if he did end up at one it would be close by to where Spencer could drive back home everyday. However, that was only if Hotch allowed such a thing to occur and he knew Dave would back him once he learned of it and he had quite a bit of pull himself and would be glad use some of it on Spencer's behalf, since he had been saying for years that Spencer should have joined the FBI and that he should have been part of the BAU for years already, as he had the intelligence, the observational skills, the drive and the instincts to make an excellent profiler and really he was already a very good one without the training. There would be far less if any resentment from the team then there would be from other agents in other units of the FBI, since they were all aware of his talents. In fact Hotch suspected that the other agents of the BAU would welcome him into their unit with little fuss, with the possible exceptions of Ryan Matthews and Emily Prentiss, who didn't really know Spencer as well, as they had been with the unit for less time.

"I want you to keep this to yourselves for now as we don't want to jinx his chances," Hotch said, "even if I don't normally believe in superstition, why chance it? Hopefully, he'll be in the June training class and in 20 weeks he'll graduate and be part of the BAU."

"June is over seven months away," Garcia said speaking for the first time in awhile.

"We know, but we wanted to give you plenty of notice so that you can take your time fleshing out my records and this way you can do it a little bit at time, so that it'll be less noticeable," Spencer explained and Garcia nodded.

"You're far less likely to miss something, if you do it slowly," Hotch added, "then if you rushed and did it in a hurry and possibly miss some important detail."

"Yes," Garcia said slowly, "I took my time on my own records, and I should do the same to Spencer's to make sure there's no gaps in his information and history and a reason for the FBI to be suspicious. You know it just occurred to me, but this means that you'll be together almost all the time, and even share a hotel room at night, is that why you're doing this?"

"No," Spencer assured his two friends, "it's just a really great added bonus. I really do need a change, as what I told you a few minutes ago is the absolute truth. I'm getting tired of dealing with idiots and healing them from the damage they have done to themselves, which doesn't take hardly any of my intelligence. I just feel that I can do more and use more of my brain then I can do with my current career. I suppose that my choice of career has just gotten boring and I need more variety and spice in my life."

"Which working with the BAU will definitely provide," Morgan said with a smirk.

"Exactly," Spencer agreed with a wink at his two friends.

"How are the two of you going to handle being apart for five months? I mean it's not like you are going to see each other for those 20 weeks and I know how much I hate being apart from Penelope when I'm gone with the team, and it's normally only for a few days at a time," asked Morgan.

"I'm not going to lie and say it's going be easy," Hotch said and Spencer nodded in agreement, "but the wolf in me is currently accepting the situation, because he really doesn't want to be parted from Spencer when we're out of town working a case, and he knows that after this we will very rarely be apart, except for a few hours at a time. He's not very happy with it, but he is accepting it. I suppose you could say that the wolf in me as well as the human part of me are anticipating working with him, but so just so you know that if I didn't truly think Spencer was perfect for the BAU I would never have asked you to change his records Garcia."

"I know that, bossman," Garcia said, "believe me, I don't mind doing it and that I'm looking forward to working with my baby."

"Thank you Garcia," Spencer said, not even flushing at that particular term of endearment, if only because Garcia had come up with that endearment the first time the two of them had met and so he was well used to it by now. Besides, he didn't really mind it, since he knew it meant Garcia loved him, and not romantically or sexually, but as a mother would her son or how good friends loved each other.

The four continued to talk and then Hotch ordered dinner for all of them and they ate together still talking out every little detail of what they wanted to do so that they didn't miss anything important and Spencer informed Garcia what he wanted his fleshed out records to say.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

I've almost got it, Spencer told himself.

It had taken him three months to get this far, but thanks to his persistence his transformation was nearly complete. Of course, if he had a trainer and guide, it would have helped, but he was doing it on his own, which meant that it was a much slower process.

Spencer remembered when he had transformed one of his hands into a paw, about a month after he had started working on the transformation. After that it had been over a week before he'd managed to not only do his hand, but his whole arm as well. He well remembered how the brown fur had itched, as it came in and how it had seemed to grow out of his very skin, just like Aaron's did when he transformed.

After that success he had gotten back to work, and he hadn't had any luck for more than two weeks after that. After that last success though his transformation had started happening more swiftly and every couple of days he had some luck, first turning his face into a wolf's snout and mouth with all it's sharp teeth and also the eyes of a wolf, except that his stayed brown instead of turning gold like Aaron's did, but since wolves could have brown eyes that wasn't all that unusual.

Finally he had managed to transform his feet and his legs and all that was left now was his middle, which should be the easiest part since it didn't have any joints, that needed to be reshaped. He had even managed to grow a tale out of his backside, but other than that he had yet to transform his chest, stomach and thighs into those of the wolf.

Spencer concentrated, imagining what he would look like in his wolf form, with his dark chocolate brown fur, the same color as his hair, his pointed ears, the wolf's snout and all his sharp teeth, his hands and feet turning into paws and suddenly he felt himself transform completely, his bones cracked and reformed, which was very painful, as he knew it would be and Spencer Wolf shook his head knowing he had finally done it.

Spencer lay on the floor for a few minutes panting trying not to move around too much since he knew it would be very painful to do so, but finally he cautiously got to his feet, er, paws and just stood there for awhile, trying to get his bearings.

Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps, as his ears automatically swiveled to pick up the sound better and knew it was his mate looking for him, since the sound of his footsteps were very familiar especially to the ears of the wolf.

"Spencer?" asked Hotch as he came into the library.

Hotch looked around and finally spotted the brown wolf standing over by one of the chairs that dotted the library, so people could be comfortable while they read.

"Spencer?" asked Hotch cautiously

Spencer barked at him and started to step forward, but fell forward instead as he was not used to walking on four paws at least not yet.

"You did it?" Hotch asked in awe, as he moved forward until he was standing just inches from the brown form of the wolf that was his mate.

Hotch sat on the floor beside the brown wolf starting to scratch his fur gently, which was the exact same color as Spencer's hair, which only made sense since he knew he was completely black when in his wolf form since his hair was that color.

"This is wonderful," Hotch told Spencer who he knew could understand him, just as he could when he was in his wolf form. "Once you get control of your new form we can go running together."

Spencer barked at him, and Hotch immediately knew that meant that his mate was looking forward to it. "I suppose that you'll be like a pup that is just learning to walk on four feet instead of two and it takes awhile to learn to coordinate all four of your feet so that you don't trip over them.

Spencer barked at him at Hotch knew that he was telling him that he knew this.

"Can you transform back?" asked Hotch and Spencer barked again as if to say of course, I can, although he really didn't want to move, since his mate scratching him in between his ears and on the back of his neck felt so good that his brown eyes were nearly crossing in pleasure.

"Well, go ahead," Hotch urged him gently, stopping his scratching causing the wolf form of Spencer to whine plaintively already missing his mate's touch.

Spencer gave him a look that seemed to say 'do I have to?'

"Yes, you do," Hotch told him, "I want to see if you can do it."

Spencer whined pathetically for a few seconds until Hotch gave him a look that he didn't dare disobey, for it was the look of an alpha wolf to a weaker one that said you will obey me and when Hotch's eyes changed to yellow and his fangs dropped Spencer knew he had no choice.

The wolf form of Spencer sighed looking pathetic, but Hotch would not back down and so Spencer stood up on his four paws and concentrated on thinking of himself as human. Swiftly the transformation overtook him until he was kneeling on his hands and knees.

Spencer groaned and fell on his rear. "I am so sore right now," Spencer whined.

"Well, you did warn me that you would be, so I've brought you this," Hotch said, taking a couple of aspirin out of his pants pocket and handing them over.

"How did you know I would need these?" asked Spencer.

"I've been carrying them around with me for awhile, because I knew you were pretty close to completing your transformation," Hotch explained, "or at least I have when I'm home."

"Thanks," Spencer said taking the pills and swallowing then dry.

"You're welcome," Hotch said, as he kissed his mate on the cheek. "I'm so proud of you. I know it wasn't a very easy thing to do and it did take you nearly three months just like you predicted."

"Well, something that's worth doing, is often hard to do," Spencer said philosophically as the aspirin began to dull the pain in his muscles. "After this first transformation it shouldn't be so painful next time and then the time after that shouldn't be painful at all. I don't think I'll be doing anymore transforming for a day or two though, as I need time to recover.

"Well, once you get control of your wolf form, you'll be able to change as swiftly as I do without any pain and when you can do that we're going to have some fun," Hotch said giving his mate a wolfish smirk.

"I'm looking forward to it," Spencer promised him with a smile, "which is one of the reasons I worked so hard on the transformation."

"You know you're lucky, because apparently you don't have to remove your clothes when you change and they just transform with you and also reappear when you change back. They just seem to be absorbed into your form, and as you know I have to remove my clothes in order not to rip them to shreds when I change, so in that way our forms are different."

"I never thought about it like that, but you're right," Spencer agreed. "I think I can move around now as my aches and pains have diminished to the point I think I can actually get to my feet."

Hotch rose to his feet ready to help his mate get to his and Spencer shot him a grateful look.

"I will always be here when you need my help," Hotch told him.

"I know," Spencer said softly, as he took his mate's offered hand to help him get to his feet and pulled himself up and when his knees started to buckle Hotch put his arms around his mate's waist in support and Spencer leaned against him until his legs started to feel normal instead wobbly.

"Thanks," Spencer said. "I didn't expect my knees to be so wobbly or my legs to feel like jelly."

"Hey, it happens to the best of us," Hotch told Spencer who nodded.

"I know," Spencer answered burying his nose in his mate's neck.

The two of them stood there for a few minutes, but finally Spencer moved away, although he immediately took Hotch's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Why don't you rub some of the potion onto my muscles? You know the one I mean."

"Sure," Hotch immediately agreed perking up considerably knowing the potion that Spencer was referring to and that was the one that took all the pain of sore muscles away and was even more effective then the aspirin that he had given his mate a few minutes ago. It also lasted for six months before it lost it's effectiveness and a new batch needed to be brewed and the two of them used a lot of it.

Hotch had to admit that it was one of his favorite activities and his hands always lingered on Spencer's skin, which both he and his mate enjoyed.

"I'll be glad to," Hotch added.

Spencer had expected nothing else and smiled in anticipation. "Let's go," Spencer said eagerly causing Hotch to chuckle and them without ceremony picked his mate up gently and started towards the door.

Spencer for his part just cuddled into his mate's arms and was glad that Aaron knew him well enough to know that he would likely have found climbing the stairs painful, even with the aspirin, since it had only dulled his pain, not gotten rid of it. Spencer buried his nose in the side of his mate's neck again and inhaled the scent of his mate's aftershave, with a tinge of his natural scent underneath. Spencer absolutely adored the way his mate's smelled just as Aaron did him, although he knew he didn't have his mate's sensitive nose, though he knew that had now changed since he could tell that his sense of smell was already improving from what it had been previously.

"I love you, Aaron," Spencer told his mate kissing the skin on the side of his neck.

"I love you to, Spencer," Hotch told his mate kissing the top of his head tenderly.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Months later

"I'm proud of you for going through with this," Hotch told his mate taking Spencer into his arms and kissing him tenderly. "Yes, I know you wanted to join the FBI, but you could have changed your mind you know, as it's not the easiest career out there."

"I'm not backing out down now," Spencer said with determination in his golden brown eyes and set of his jaw. "If I don't complete the training it won't be because I didn't give it my best shot."

"I know," Hotch promised with a proud gleam in his eyes. "I'm going to miss you like crazy while you're gone, but at least we can still talk to each other on the phone and text back and forth."

Spencer's acceptance into the program had come just yesterday, and Hotch couldn't have been prouder of his mate jumping through every hoop that the FBI required before they accepted someone into their training program.

"I'm going to miss you too, but it will be worth it in the end," Spencer said firmly. "After this we will very rarely be apart and if other agents are jealous or resent the fact that I was pulled directly to the BAU then that's their problem and I'm not going worry about it."

"And you shouldn't," Hotch told him kissing Spencer on the forehead. "Me and the children are going to miss you, a lot."

"I'm certainly going to miss them and you to," Spencer said kissing Hotch deeply, which the older man responded to immediately and just as deeply and passionately. "You know we're lucky that us being together as a couple isn't going to hold me back or get me rejected from the program, because you know there's still a stigma against same-sex relationships and not just within the bureau."

"Yes, there is, but I'm a Shifter and you're my True Mate, so it's a little different for us then it would be for others and yes, I know it's not fair, but that's just the way it is. Even 10 years ago you wouldn't have been accepted into the program, even if you were my True Mate and yet if you had already worked in the FBI and we had just happened to meet then they wouldn't have fired either one of us, so long as we kept our relationship quiet. Things are changing very rapidly," Hotch said.

"True enough," Spencer agreed giving his mate another kiss on the lips. "I know some people are going to be against the fact that I'm gay, even if I'm technically bisexual, I'm in a permanent relationship with another man, which will be enough to classify me as gay in some peoples minds."

"So just don't talk about it," Hotch suggested. "If people ask just avoid the subject."

"That may work for most of the other cadets, but word will still eventually filter back to them, as people gossip and are overheard all the time and most of the instructors are going to know about our relationship."

"I hope the cadets are smart enough not to cause you problems, because if they do, I promise you they will regret the day they were born," Hotch growled looking fiercely protective.

"I really don't think they'll do anything malicious," Spencer said, "as it's bound to be investigated and they'll likely be caught, which will ruin their careers before they've even begun and might even land them in prison. Of course, I realize that people can do stupid things all the time when they dislike or outright hate someone and whether it's for a stupid or valid reason, people don't need a reason to resent or hate someone. I'm sure I'll have to put up with teasing and nasty comments, but it probably won't be anymore than that and while I know that instructors don't allow such a thing it still goes on since they can't be everywhere."

"Still, you be careful and be aware of your surroundings at all times," Hotch ordered. "Make sure you check your bed before you get in it, as some cadets with likely try to pull malicious pranks on you. Keep your eyes open, as it could be something as simple as a bucket over a door filled with water or paint, but it can also be something that could be very damaging to you like acid."

"Surely someone wouldn't go that far," Spencer protested.

"Probably not," Hotch admitted. "As the FBI instructors are bound to investigate something like that, even if the prank didn't hurt anyone and the cadet found to be guilty would be thrown out of the program immediately, and possibly even arrested. However, people do stupid things every day for the stupidest of reasons, as we are both well aware."

"Don't worry we'll get through this and after this is over we'll never be parted again," Spencer promised his mate silkily flinging his arms around Aaron's neck kissing him passionately.

"Believe me, I know it, which is the only reason that I'm allowing you to do this, because I don't think I could be parted from you otherwise, as it is hard enough to be separated when I am gone for work, but that is usually just for a few days at a time. Our mate bond is deep, and while most are I know ours is deeper than most, because we share everything with each other and keep no secrets no matter how innocent, like some mate's do," Hotch said returning the kiss just as passionately.

"You know I think we should get married, officially in the human way." Spencer said once the kiss had broken. "I'm just concerned, that whoever does assignments will give me one that's in some state far away from here, since I know they're over 50 field offices. I'm not saying that you don't have pull or favors you can call in, just that some idiot might not believe in the True Mate Bond we share or even that Shifters have True Mates, so they could assign me somewhere far away and while you would never allow that assignment to be permanent, I could still be assigned to say one of the field offices out in California temporarily and it would take time to get my assignment reversed, weeks at the least. It's going to be hard enough being away from you for the next five months, but at least it's for a good cause, but I don't want some idiot to get an idea that he can assign me to say Kansas or Alaska and keep us separated, just because he or she doesn't like same-sex relationships."

"Yes, the FBI is full of idiots unfortunately, some of those are in charge of recruiting." Hotch agreed swearing he would never allow that to happen. "You might not get one of those people responsible for assignments, that would assign you to someplace like Kansas or Alaska or some other place equally far away, but you're right why take chances? I would quit before I'd let them give you an assignment out in someplace like California or Kansas or Alaska, but in order to avoid that altogether I think it's an excellent idea that we get married in the human fashion and we probably should've done it years ago, but neither one of us saw the necessity of it, since we went through the Shifter wedding ritual which a lot of people, well, besides, other Shifters, don't recognize as a legal and binding, and it's likely that some people in the FBI won't either, because they don't believe in True Mate Bonds, or that two men should be together or even because, they just assume that we'll breakup once you are placed in some field office far away, although I would think the fact that we've been together for over 10 years and have pups together would tell the idiots that our relationship was a permanent one, but still you never know the depths of human stupidity."

"We also went through a magical wedding ceremony where we were bond together in that way as well, and although it won't make either of us sick if we are separated against our wills we still would feel the pull to be back together, which will be very strong and can be just as bad as being sick and could be at least distracting. Now while you're gone a lot for your job, just like the True Mate Bond, the bond that was formed in our magical ceremony also knows the difference and reacts to your feelings, so if you don't want to be somewhere, then the bond is going to react as it will sense that the two who are married are far apart and obviously don't want to be. Really I have you tied up in two different cultures, but neither is recognized in a lot of places as legal and binding, so if we do a normal wedding ceremony, that just means that I'll have to tied up in all three cultures and no idiot will be able to separate us."

"Which I won't object to at all," Hotch promised his mate silkily. "Some idiot cannot cause problems in the future if we do get married in the normal way, although why a piece of paper that says we are married matters has never made any sense to me," Hotch said.

"Your Shifter upbringing is showing," Spencer teased him causing Hotch to smile for his mate was absolutely correct. "Unfortunately, a lot of Normals don't recognize a legal bonding between Shifters and their mates and while Shifters do recognize a Normal wedding it doesn't really have a lot of oomph to it, and is mostly only recognized if the two are True Mates and they had to do both, so they would be accepted, in Normal society and so their children would be legal outside the Shifter community and not illegitimate."

"Yes, I agree," Hotch said with a nod, proud of his mate determination and intelligence, knowing that his mate knew quite a bit about Shifter society thanks to all his reading and the fact that Spencer asked him questions from time to time, which he did his best to answer, as some stuff just wasn't covered in books.

"In any case, I would never allow our separation to happen, because even if I had just gone through the training I would quit before I would allow that to happen, even if it was possible. Besides, we both know that we'll feel sick as dogs since the bond knows the difference between a temporary or a permanent separation. We've both accepted that we're going to be separated for 20 weeks while I attend the Academy, so that part of the bond shouldn't come into effect, even if we'll both still miss each other intensely. However, if some idiot tried to assign me to a faraway field office I'd quit before I'd allow that to happen, since I wouldn't be able to do my job very well if I felt as sick as a dog 24 hours a day," Spencer said.

"And I'm sure you remember that what affects you will affect me, because of the bond and that means I won't be able to do my job either. If some idiot actually tried that, I would hope he'd be fired at the very least," Hotch said vehemently.

"Knowing how people think they'd probably give him a promotion," Spencer snorted sounding unusually cynical.

"Well, if we get married like you suggested, in the human way then none of those people that do assignments will have a leg to stand on, since it will be legal and binding among the humans, and this way we avoid potential problems before they can begin," Hotch said.

"It will probably look rather suspicious that we're doing this now instead of 10 years ago when we first got together," Spencer pointed out, "Not that it matters to me what people think, as we're only going to do a normal wedding ceremony to prevent the potential problem of me being assigned to some distant field office and while we don't know that's going to happen it's better to just go ahead and do it so it can't."

"We don't have time to plan anything really complicated so we'll have to do simple," said Hotch and Spencer nodded.

"Just down at the courthouse with the team and perhaps, my siblings as witnesses will be fine with me, as we would never even consider doing this normal ceremony if both of us didn't think it was necessary, so there's no reason to do anything complicated or formal."

"That was my thinking," Hotch said with a nod. "I'll go ahead and get a marriage license, although both of us will have to be there for that and we can do it one evening after we get off from work, although it will have to be done within 30 days because that's when the license will expire."

"I don't see why we can't do it the same day that the license is issued since we're not going to do anything complicated," said Spencer.

"We'll see how it works out," Hotch promised kissing the top of his mate's head. "It would be nice if we could use the license on the same day it's issued and get it over with, since we really don't need this wedding ceremony to confirm our bond and we are only doing it to prevent some idiot from assigning you to some distant field office despite whatever the pull I have, which will likely never happen, but as you said earlier why take chances? So when do you want to tell the team that you've been accepted into the Academy?"

"Why don't we invite them all for dinner and then share the news, even though classes don't start for a couple of months. I didn't want to say anything until I had been accepted just in case it jinxed it, but now that I have been..."

"It's time to let everyone know," Hotch finished and Spencer nodded. "I'll invite them all to dinner sometime in the next couple of weeks, depending on how busy we are and how much we're out of town, but hopefully, we'll have a free weekend sometime in the next two or three weeks."

"You know that's one thing, that I really like about working with you, and that's we won't be separated on important dates like our anniversary, birthdays or the weekends, even if we're working."

"We'll both have to act professionally while on the clock, as we'll both be under a great deal of scrutiny at least for the first six months and maybe even longer than that," Hotch reminded him and Spencer nodded.

"I know, and I'm not likely to forget considering," Spencer said tapping his head in a gesture that Hotch knew meant that thanks to his mate's eidetic memory he was incapable of forgetting. "All I meant was just sitting next to you working will be heaven, considering how often we've been separated because of your job and mine in the last 10 years and that your mere presence will soothe me even if we can't be obvious about our relationship. Also we'll be able to still make love after we're done for the night thanks to silencing charms, which I don't need a wand to do or even have to say it verbally. The team or anybody else will never know that we're making love, since I know most hotel walls are notoriously thin."

"There is that," Hotch agreed with a rather lecherous smirk. "Of course, some days we're going to be too tired to even think about that, but just sleeping with our bodies tangled together like normal will be heaven."

"I know I'll certainly sleep better, then I ever have when you're gone," Spencer said burying his head in Hotch's chest contentedly, "and that is definitely a bonus."

"That it is," Hotch immediately agreed, tightening his arms around his mate's slender frame. Spencer would never be as bulky or broad chested as he was, but his body had definitely filled out, because of all the exercise he did and because he had requested that his mate keep on at least 10 extra pounds after his first pregnancy, as he had always thought that Spencer was too thin, because even though he ate like he had a hollow leg he never seemed to gain an ounce and Hotch had always envied his lover his metabolism. Ever since Spencer had been pregnant that first time though and had had to eat more than he normally did, his metabolism had changed, so he now had to work out in order to maintain his slenderness. However, thanks to those workouts, Spencer now had muscles in his arms and legs, as well as his stomach and much to Hotch's secret delight, his ass, since that was one of his favorite parts of his mate's body. Really his mate's whole body had benefited from the workouts, because even though you couldn't really tell under his clothes, Spencer now had a body to die for and it wasn't that he hadn't had a good one before he had started working out, just that now it was much better. His stamina in bed and elsewhere had also increased and things that had used to wear him out after he was done no longer did. Hotch appreciated the fact that Spencer and him could now make love for hours without his mate tiring and having to take a catnap in-between lovemaking sessions and of course, it also benefited him in other ways, such as being able to stay up with the children when one of them was sick. Shifters couldn't get most diseases that was true, but that didn't prevent things like colic that a baby could get quite often and unfortunately, it affected, Normals, Shifters and even wizards and witches. Except for things like colic though Shifter babies tended to be healthy for the most part, even if they didn't really develop, their immunity to most diseases until they were at least five years old. Still, they tended more towards being healthy then being sickly, like some Normal babies tended to be.

"So when are you going to inform Addison and give him your two weeks notice?" Hotch asked.

"Next time I go into work," Spencer replied, "as there is no reason to put it off. Addison knows that I haven't been very happy lately, although he doesn't know the reason. However, he's an intelligent man as you know and I'm sure he has guessed that it has to do with my job. I don't think he'll be all that surprised by my resignation, although he probably will be shocked that it's because I'm going to the FBI Academy."

"So are you going to continue to work up until classes start at the Academy?" asked Hotch.

"No," Spencer said shaking his head negatively. "There's really no point, and this will give me a couple months to prepare for the rigorous training that they give at the Academy."

"You're ready for that," Hotch promised him. "You know we've been practicing and making sure that you'll pass all the physical requirements, with my help. I've showed you how to climb a rope for instance, I made sure you can run miles at a time so you can ace that requirement, even if you won't have the fastest time out there you should pass with a solid score and your long legs will only help in that particular case. I've even taken you to the firing range and taught you how to aim the gun so that you won't miss the target, even if you'll never be a sharpshooter."

"That's one part of FBI training I don't like," Spencer said making a face. "I know it's necessary, but I truly hope I never have to shoot someone fatally. Wounding someone so they are down and out is one thing, but actually killing a person? I know the people will be going after will be evil for the most part and who have killed people, but that doesn't mean that I'm happy about the thought of actually killing someone."

"I knew that was the part that you would have the most trouble with," Hotch admitted. "You're too softhearted, and while that's not a bad thing in other professions, it is when you want to be a cop or an FBI agent. I won't lie to you and say that you'll never have to kill someone, but it probably won't happen for a long time, if ever, but there always will be the possibility and I know that you won't hesitate, just because you don't like the thought of having to kill someone."

"No, I won't," Spencer promised looking fierce and determined. "I do realize that it's necessary sometimes and if it comes down to protecting you or one of the team or innocent civilians then yes, I would shoot that person in the head if it was necessary to do so. I'm not saying I won't have nightmares afterwards, but I will do it. The Potter side of the family is known for its kindness, generosity of spirit and to have compassion for others, but also for being tough when it is necessary."

"Well, despite your dislike you're a pretty good shot," Hotch admitted. "Not the best and you'll never be a sharpshooter, but you'll certainly hit what you're aiming for and that's all that really matters. If you can do as well on the Academy firing range as you did when I took you to a public one then you'll be just fine and you'll come out with a solid score. If you don't pass your gun test you know that will keep out of the field, although personally, I believe you'll be the most help behind the scenes, because of your obscure knowledge and the fact that you speak, read and write six different languages."

"What can I say I have a lot of time while you're gone and for me they're easy to learn thanks to my memory," Spencer shrugged, trying not to show how pleased he was at his mate's compliment.

"Hey, don't knock your skills," Hotch told Spencer gently taking him by the shoulders and forcing his mate to look him in the eye. "Not many people speak more than two languages nowadays and a large percentage only speak their native tongue. That ability to speak so many languages was one of the reasons the FBI accepted you, even if I know you don't like the brag about your skills. You and I both know no one who speaks, not to mention reads and writes Italian, Spanish, German, French, Swedish and Irish Gaelic, as well as their own native English."

"Emily speaks, reads and writes several languages, including Arabic," Spencer pointed out.

"Yes, well her mother is a diplomat so that's really not surprising, but neither your mother nor your father were diplomats, nor did you travel the world like Prentiss did when she was a child. You just decided on your own to learn those languages and it was mostly because you needed something to occupy that intelligent mind of yours, while I was out of town working. I know you spent multiple hours listening to audio language CDs and how you kept it all straight in your head even with your eidetic memory I don't know."

"I suppose my brain just kind of sorts them out," Spencer said thoughtfully blushing at the compliment. "I know you really need to visit the country and listen to conversations and live there for awhile before you're really fluent in that language, and while I didn't do that I did Apparate over to the country in question and talked to the natives for hours while testing out my language skills at the same time. To me learning a new language is the same as learning new facts, although the languages I chose are all Latin based just like English and it would be harder to learn something like Arabic because it is not based off Latin and is a totally different alphabet."

"You can probably do it though," Hotch who had ultimate faith in his mate's learning abilities said.

"Oh, probably, although it would take me considerably longer," Spencer admitted, "because as I said Arabic is not Latin based, and therefore, would be considerably harder than learning something that is based on your native tongue. So do you think the team will be shocked when they hear?"

"Yes, well, all except for Garcia and Morgan who already knew our plans." Hotch said. "I know that once the team gets over their shock they'll be really proud of you."

"Aaron, I want to thank you for all the time you've taken to give me the training that is required for the FBI," Spencer said. "I know if it wasn't for that, and all the encouragement you've given me I probably wouldn't even have been accepted."

"You're welcome," Hotch told his mate. "It was my pleasure I promise you, as I want you to pass the training, so that we can be together most of the time, although that's not the only reason of course, as we could also really use your particular set of skills."

"I don't envy you having to deal with Strauss though," Spencer said with a grimace. "She'll probably object to us being in the same unit out of sheer spite whether we work well together or not. I know she absolutely hates how happy you've been for over 10 years."

"Yes, she has," Hotch said with an evil chuckle. "I stopped giving a damn what she thought a long time ago, although I'm always polite when I deal with her so that she can't report me for insubordination, which you know she would do as she would just love to get me in trouble."

"I'm not really looking forward having to deal with Strauss on a regular basis," Spencer said with a grimace. "I'll do it, if it means being on the same team as you, but I won't enjoy our encounters I promise you."

"She really doesn't come out to the bullpen too much so you don't have to worry," Hotch said. "She stays mostly in her office."

"Good," Spencer said relieved, "the less I have to deal with her the better."

"You still need to be careful around her though," Hotch warned his mate who nodded. "She asked Emily to spy on the team and report back to hoping to get some of us moved to other teams or fired, me in particular. Unfortunately, for Strauss, Prentiss was honest enough to tell me about it and refused to be her mole."

"I don't blame her for not wanting to be used like that," Spencer said feeling sympathy for Emily.

"Luckily, she was smart and strong enough to stand up to that evil, vindictive woman," said Hotch. "Now enough talking as believe it's time for the two of us to head upstairs, as I am going to keep you in bed as much as possible as we will be separated for five months soon and I intend to ensure that you won't forget me while you are going through training," added Hotch with a leer picking up his mate easily, flinging him over his shoulder and headed for the stairs.

"Like me forgetting you is ever going to happen," Spencer laughed. "I'll miss you desperately while I'm going through training, but still if you want to remind me you love me, I won't object I promise."

"Good," Hotch said his voice a growl and Spencer knew without having to be told, that Aaron's eyes had turned the yellow of the wolf and his fangs had also dropped.

Hotch walked upstairs quickly with his mate in his arms, and once he arrived in their bedroom he tossed Spencer onto of the bed gently and was immediately on top of him ripping his clothes off and smothering him with kisses.

"I'm going to miss you so badly," Hotch said once he had come up for air, "but the wolf in me wants you to do this as it wants to stop being separated from you when I have to be away."

"I'm going to miss you too, Aaron," Spencer promised his mate silkily, using one of his hands to pull Hotch's neck towards him and once they were level Spencer attacked his mate's lips and kissed him for several long scorching minutes, until they both needed to breathe. "We'll both get through this time of separation and then we'll never be parted again."

"I can hardly wait," Hotch said fervently still looking dazed from the way that his mate had been so aggressive, not that it was a bad thing, just that it was rather unusual. In fact, he loved this new side of his mate and would be sure to encourage it as much as possible. Sure Spencer had always been aggressive, attacking him the minute he entered the front door and he had been gone for several days, but that hadn't happened in more than a week, as it had been rather quiet so this side of his mate was new and one he could learn to love very easily. Apparently Spencer was going to miss him as much as he was going to miss the younger man, not that that was very surprising, as their sex life had always been more than healthy and they had always spent a great deal of time in bed, although not as much as they had used to, because of other obligations like their pups. Still their sex life was healthy and active and always would be if he had anything to say about it, as he would never get of his mate's body even when he reached 100.

Hotch knew, that when Spencer attacked him like that he had been speaking nothing but the truth about how he was going to miss him and that made him feel all warm and good inside. It wasn't that he ever doubted Spencer's feelings for him, but it was still nice to have them confirmed this way.

Hotch shook his head and attacked his mate again growling lustfully and that was how the two men spent the next several hours, joyfully making love since they would soon be parted for such a long time.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	14. Chapter 14

Two weeks later

"So you've been accepted into the FBI Academy?" asked Emily shocked. It wasn't that she didn't know Spencer Reid was an intelligent man, just that she didn't believe he had the right qualifications for the FBI Academy. As far as she knew he had never gone to college, because he had been taking care of his brothers and sisters and while there was nothing wrong with that at all you needed a good university education in order to get into the FBI Academy.

"Yes, I have," Spencer told Emily detecting that she wasn't exactly pleased at this announcement.

"What made you want to join the FBI?" Rossi asked not really all that surprised, as he had known that Aaron had been keeping something close to his chest refusing to say what it was and Rossi had believed it had something to do with Spencer and he'd been right about that, so no he wasn't surprised.

"I just decided I needed change," Spencer said being completely honest. "Being a healer, well, I'm just tired of dealing with, certain aspects of it, and to tell you the truth I was bored. Healing just doesn't exactly hold a thrill for me anymore, although it was a nice safe option while my siblings were still so young, since I was their only means of support. Now however, even the youngest Hudson and Bronwyn are all grown up and out on their own, so it won't matter if I'm gone for days at a time. All my siblings now have lives of their own and while we will always be close and they'll be home for visits, they're basically out of my life and responsible for themselves. Both Aaron and I believe I will be a great asset to the BAU and he's intending to call in numerous favors to make sure that's where I'm placed."

"Yes! You will be a great asset, Spence!" JJ practically squealed throwing her arms around her brother in all, but blood.

"Yes, I agree," Rossi said looking at Hotch who was smiling a little at JJ's reaction. "I've always thought that you would make an excellent member of our unit, but since you were so happy with what you were doing...I never pressed. I'm also willing to call in some favors along with Aaron's to make sure you get placed in the BAU if needed. With both of us calling in some of the favors we are owed you should be placed with us, once you graduate from the Academy."

"Thanks, Dave," Hotch told his friend who winked at him by way of reply.

"What about a college education though?" asked Emily. "As far as I'm aware you've never been."

"Got several degrees online," Reid told Emily smiling at his friend. "I had to do something while my siblings were at boarding school nine months of the year, not to mention when Aaron was working to stop from being bored, so I now have PhDs in mathematics, chemistry, engineering and B.A.s in psychology, sociology and philosophy."

"And they accepted online degrees?" asked Emily shocked knowing that more than a decade ago most places never would have accepted degrees that were gotten online, especially not the FBI. If the FBI were accepting online degrees now she really needed to get with the times.

"So long as it's from an accredited university then they do now," Spencer said, "and I got mine from the Caltech online site. According to the site so long as you get your degrees online from an accredited university, because you have other commitments like taking care of your family, it apparently shows dedication, loyalty, determination to better yourself and that you're good at multitasking."

"That's a lot of degrees in what 10 years?" asked Morgan.

"Actually it's closer to 12," Spencer said, "as I started long before I met Aaron. I could have had them been done much sooner, but I had to spend some time with my family after all, especially in the summers when they were home from school."

Emily stared at Spencer in shock for she had known he was intelligent, but not that intelligent. To complete 6 university degrees in just a dozen years and it had only taken so long because Spencer had taken time off to spend with his family was utterly amazing. Emily thought Hotch was right Spencer would fit in with the BAU, like, a puzzle piece that fit into a jigsaw.

"I just completed my last one a few months back and I don't plan on getting anymore at least not right now," Spencer said.

"I would think 6 would be enough for anybody," Rossi commented with a smile, just as amazed at how many degrees, Spencer had gotten in only a dozen years, even if he had known for years that Aaron's mate was extremely intelligent.

"Anybody else definitely," Hotch commented with pride in his eyes, "but not for Spencer. I guarantee you when they do an IQ test at the Academy it will be genius level. I won't be surprised if it was 170 or over and I wouldn't be the least astonished if it was at least near 200 or even over that. I mean he started out as really intelligent, but he reads so much in his spare time, not to mention faster than I've ever seen and remembers everything, that his IQ quotient is bound to have gone up at least ten points over the years and I wouldn't be surprised if it was more than that."

"I would say so since I definitely don't know anybody else who has six degrees," JJ said. "Most people only get one and it takes them 4 to 6 years depending on what they want to become and some who are really intelligent might get two, but not six."

"Well, it helps that I read really fast," Spencer offered, "and as Aaron said I remember everything I read. The average American adult reads anywhere from 200 to 300 words a minute, but I read considerably faster than that."

"So are you sure you're ready for the rigorous training at the Academy?" Morgan asked his friend, even though he already knew the answer, but he had his cover to keep, as the rest of the team didn't need to know what Hotch and Spencer had asked his baby girl to do or even that the two of them had known of the plan for weeks.

"Yes," Spencer said with certainty a determined glint in his golden brown eyes. "Aaron has been helping me to make sure I'll be ready for the physical portion, because the academic portion isn't going to be any trouble for me and that isn't meant to brag I'm just stating fact. He's been giving me tips as to what to expect and helping me train. I also workout on my own and there's a fully equipped gym on the fourth floor."

"There wasn't a gym when we toured this house," JJ said.

"That's because I bought the equipment, after that so I could keep in shape and so Aaron could as well, without having to go to the gym."

Spencer didn't mention he had done it, to help him lose the baby weight from his second pregnancy and at that time had done it as much for that reason as to keep in shape. Now though, ever since he'd had his last set of sextuplets, he needed to use the gym to stay trim, as he no longer had his metabolism where he could eat anything he wanted and never gain an ounce.

"It's on the other side of the hall from the nursery and it has everything you would expect in a gym, weights, treadmill, elliptical machine and stationary bike."

Emily was impressed in spite of herself, because she knew that exercise equipment of top quality was hundreds of thousands of dollars and since hadn't even mentioned the cost that must mean he hadn't even thought about it, which in turn meant that it was probably just a drop in the bucket of the money that he had. Come to think of it his college education online couldn't have been cheap either and in fact had probably been double then if he had actually sat and attended the classes on a campus. She had better accept the fact that so long as Spencer passed his training at the Academy he was going to join the BAU, as both Hotch and Rossi were going to make sure of that, but what this meant was she was going to have to be very careful not to let her crush on Hotch show when he was around and she had been lucky that Hotch himself either hadn't noticed or chosen to ignore it, even if she wasn't sure which, since he was really good at concealing what he was thinking and not showing his emotions.

"Dinner everyone," Hotch said coming back into the living room. He had quietly slipped out of the living room to make sure that his dinner didn't burn and now it was ready.

"It smells delicious Hotch," Garcia said sniffing the air appreciatively.

"Thank you," both Hotch and Spencer said together causing everyone chuckle, since the two of them sounded like twins at the moment.

"Aaron and I cooked it together," Spencer told everyone.

"I wish I could cook like this," Emily said sniffing the air appreciatively. "I'm afraid that's one thing I'm not very good at and I usually just order out or fix something very simple that I can't possibly mess up, like pasta."

"I could give you lessons," Rossi offered before Spencer could. "I'm a pretty good cook myself, but then I'm Italian and we know how to cook a meal."

Rossi was well aware of the huge crush that Emily Prentiss had on Aaron, even if she had never made it obvious, as she knew that it would never go anywhere, not even if Spencer was suddenly killed for some reason, for Shifters never remarried after their True Mates were gone and in fact often killed themselves within a very short amount of time. Besides, though he had never admitted it to anyone he had fallen in love with the intelligent, and spunky daughter of Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss, although he had never said anything and he wouldn't so long as he was sure that Emily's crush on Aaron remained.

Rossi couldn't really blame Emily for having a huge crush on Aaron Hotchner, since he was the kind a man that every woman drooled over, he was handsome, confident, definitely an alpha male, which a lot of women went for, but he was also nice, compassionate, kind, and although he had a temper he very rarely lost it, although he could get annoyed. Rossi had watched amused more than once as women tried to get his attention and although Aaron had never made it obvious he did subtly display his wedding band in some way so that most women would get the message. Of course, it was known that he was married to a another man or at least mated and a lot of women assumed that they could get his attention and Aaron would leave his mate for them or at last have sex with them if they showed him their cleavage, but only because they didn't really understand what that term meant. If those women were half as smart as they pretended to be they would have done their research and found out that when a Shifter found their True Mate they would never look at another in that way, even if their mate was to die. Once a Shifter found the other half of their soul there would be no other—ever.

Rossi well knew that Hotch and Spencer had never had a formal ceremony, but they had gone through the Shifter wedding ritual, which had been enough for them. Even if Aaron and Spencer did decide to go through a Normal wedding ceremony, that wouldn't stop some women from trying to get his friends attention, assuming that all they had to do was show off their legs or their breasts and Hotch would fall all over himself to ask them out.

It hadn't happened yet and it never would, but Rossi was amused that women kept trying, even if it annoyed Aaron, which he found even more amusing, even while he also silently sympathized. Rossi hoped that Spencer wouldn't go ballistic when he saw how many women tried to get his mate's attention, but no, on second thought that wasn't like Spencer at all. Rossi was sure that Aaron had warned his mate about it, so that he wouldn't overreact the first time he saw it and he was also sure that nothing would ever come between the two of them, no matter how hard women and even a few other men had tried, all of them Normals of course, and not Shifters, since Shifters could see bonds and would know immediately that Aaron was off limits and already claimed.

"Sure, why not," Emily said grateful for the offer. "Just don't blame me if I burn it. I seem to have absolutely no talent for cooking."

"You just haven't gotten the hang of it that's all," Rossi said. "Almost anybody can cook, if they follow directions."

"We'll see," Emily said noncommittally.

"So why didn't you tell us that you were applying to the Academy?" asked JJ.

"I didn't want to jinx it," Spencer said. "Call me superstitious, but I was afraid if I said anything it wouldn't happen."

"That is superstitious," Garcia's said with a wink at Spencer.

Spencer just shrugged not bothering to give a verbal reply

"We do have some more news," Hotch announced as everybody enjoyed a fine meal, with a fine white wine, rolls, spaghetti and meatballs with asparagus and corn. It was a meal that even Rossi as an Italian seemed to appreciate.

"So what's the news?" asked Garcia, as she sat back patting her tummy because she was stuffed, as the food had been excellent.

"Well, you all know that we've already been through the Shifter ritual that bonded us in marriage, but both Spencer and I are worried that the person that does assignments will assign him to some faraway field office, because they don't recognize the Shifter wedding ritual as valid, so we are asking all of you to attend a ceremony down at the courthouse sometime in the next couple of weeks, as it is only a little over a month before training starts."

"It will look suspicious," Rossi warned.

"We know," Spencer said, "but we don't see any choice, as we don't want some overzealous, idiot bureaucrat to assign me somewhere faraway, because they either don't believe that Shifters have a True Mate, or that we aren't married legally, simply because we did it the Shifter way, which a lot of times is not recognized outside the Shifter community or just because they are against same-sex couples and hope that our relationship will breakup and I'll quit before my career has even begun if they actually do that, even if I did just go through the training."

"And I will to, because there is no way that Spencer and I can be separated against our wills because we all know what happens if that occurs."

"I don't as I wasn't part of the team back when everybody else was told," Emily said.

"Well, to put it simply, a Shifter and his mate cannot be forced to separate as both of them will feel sick and the farther they get from each other sicker they will become," Garcia explained before Hotch or Spencer could. "The bond knows the difference between a temporary separation, like when Hotch or Derek goes out of town for work and someone trying to force a Shifter and their True Mate apart. The gods or the fates or whatever you want to call them don't take kindly to someone doing that and anyone who tries will regret it, because they will unleash their wrath on whoever is responsible."

Emily looked disbelieving, but Hotch nodded in confirmation.

"It has happened in the past where someone wanted another Shifter as a spouse and every bad thing imaginable happened to them until they gave up. One man even ended up dead because he refused to give up on this female he wanted and he kept trying to break the bond between her and her mate until the gods or the fates finally gave up on him getting the point, so the next day he was found dead. No reason was ever really discovered medically why he died and all the medical examiner could find at the time was that the man's heart had simply stopped. There were no signs of a heart attack or a stroke, it just stopped beating and he was only in his thirties and far to young to have died of a heart problem because it was a fine, healthy heart when it was later examined. The authorities at the time believed that he was somehow scared to death, as he had the most horrific expression on his face," Hotch said.

Emily wasn't sure if Hotch was joking or not, but since Garcia was also nodding solemnly without her usual cheerful expression she had to conclude that her boss was being serious and immediately decided that the story whether true or not was not a fate she wanted for herself and so she would never mention her feelings or try to get Hotch's attention and try to think of him as nothing, but her boss and friend, but not anything more than that. Besides, Hotch wasn't the kind to tell ghost stories so there must be at least some truth in the legend he had just related.

"There are many legends of how people have died for no discernible reason and all of them were chasing after a Shifter that either had already found their True Mate, but hadn't performed the ritual or ones that already had, so as Garcia has said there are many legends, most very similar to the one I just told you and some end happily or at least without the death of someone, others don't," Hotch said watching Emily carefully, although he was careful to make sure that no one noticed him doing so.

"Now I'm not saying that Hotch doesn't have plenty of favors he can call in to get me into the BAU and Rossi has been kind enough to say that he'll call in some of the favors he owed if he has to, but you can never tell how stupid a person is going to be and this should prevent that from happening. Really it's just a precaution and neither of us would have bothered if we weren't aware that there's a lot of disgust and outright hate when it comes to same-sex couples, even in the supposedly enlightened 21st century," Spencer added.

"There is, though it's certainly not as bad as when I was a young man," Rossi agreed. "When I entered the bureau they never would have allowed same-sex couples and if someone was gay you either kept your relationship very quiet or you were fired and thrown out of the bureau. Today it is different and the bureau has changed its stance on that, if only because of numerous deaths, mostly Shifters, though a few Normal deaths have resulted as well."

"So when are you going to tie the knot in the normal way?" asked Garcia.

"Sometime on the weekend so long as you guys and my siblings are free, but even if not all the people we want there can make it we're still going to do it, even if we know the suddenness of it is going to look suspicious," Spencer said.

"This will be happening," Hotch added, "before Spencer has to go to the Academy for training, and that's only a month away. We would like all of you there if possible and also Ryan."

"We'll be there," Morgan said knowing that there was no way his wife was going to turn down an opportunity to see her two friends, even if one of them was their boss, get married. His Penelope just loved weddings and occasion, even if she would rather be planning them and participating in them, then just watching. Garcia had known the moment Hotch and Spencer had performed the Shifter wedding ritual, since her species could see bonds, but she hadn't had a chance to congratulate him or Spencer either until they had been invited over to dinner, and he had asked what the occasion was.

When Hotch had just pulled down the collar of his shirt to show off the hickey mark, causing Garcia to immediately congratulate him and then she and Hotch had had to explain exactly why his baby girl was congratulating her boss.

Morgan knew much more about Shifters today then he had back then, as it had been at least six years ago, but that was understandable. Now though he and his baby girl were married and had eight children, or cubs as Garcia called them, which were two sets of quadruplets, three boys and five girls and he loved every single one of them fiercely and would protect them with everything he had. His mom Fran Morgan spoiled all eight of them when she came to visit, which was frequently, as it was much cheaper to buy one plane ticket than it was the buy 10 of them and the children were still a bit to young to behave for a long car or plane ride.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," JJ said hugging Spencer.

"Neither would I," Rossi agreed.

"I'll be there," Emily said.

"I'll call Ryan and see if he can make it, as I would really like to do it this weekend if at all possible," Hotch said.

"Do you have a marriage license?" asked JJ.

"Got one last week," Hotch answered. "It's still good for more than three weeks before it expires."

"Do you want us to dress up?" asked Garcia.

"Casual will do," Spencer answered. "Really we are just doing this to prevent some idiot from separating us supposedly for our own good, as has already been stated, we've already been through the ceremony that really matters and was far more meaningful than this one will be. We're only getting a piece of paper that says we're married, for one reason only and not because it has any real meaning for either Aaron or I."

Penelope was nodding in agreement, Emily noticed and she took that to mean that she and Morgan wouldn't have done a normal wedding ceremony either if they'd had any choice. She assumed in their case that they had done it so that their children wouldn't be considered illegitimate.

"Alright then, you give us the time of the ceremony I'll contact Ryan," Emily offered

"We'll let you know, but it will be by next weekend, even if we have to do it with professional witnesses," Hotch said. "We'd appreciate if you wouldn't talk about this outside this house right now as we're trying to keep it quiet, so that people like Strauss can't interfere supposedly for our own good. If Strauss hears about this she'll bury me in busy work and I won't be able to not to do it. She'll keep me so busy that by the time I get out from under it, it will be time for Spencer to enter the Academy and we would have lost our opportunity. Both of us want this to be a done deal, before people like her find out, because once it is there is nothing she or anybody else can do about it."

"Surely Strauss wouldn't be that vindictive," Morgan said.

"She hates that Aaron is happy all the time and she has a real grudge against him," Spencer said. "I'm only met her half a dozen times and I can't stand her and you know usually I can get along with just about anybody."

"I have to agree that Erin can be a very vindictive woman," Rossi said.

"You have a history?" asked JJ.

"We do, and not all of it pleasant," Rossi said.

"We'll let you know the time of the ceremony, come in jeans and don't bother to get dressed up as it doesn't matter to us," Hotch said.

"You do know that you and Spencer are going to be separated for 20 weeks," Rossi said.

Hotch immediately made a face and Spencer grimaced.

"Believe us we know it," both men said at the same time neither smiling at all.

"We're not looking forward to it," Spencer added putting his head on his mate's broad shoulder and Hotch's arm immediately coming to encircle Spencer's waist, "but we'll get through it and once we do we'll never have to be separated for such a long time again."

"Believe me, if I didn't believe it would be worth it I would never allow Spencer to go to the Academy since there are no visiting privileges," Hotch added. "The two of us will survive this just like we survive when I have to go away for work, although I will admit that this is going to be a much longer separation and harder to endure then the other since I'm only usually gone for a few days at a time."

"I could never do what you're going to do," Garcia said. "Of course, I know I probably wouldn't say that if Derek and I did not already work together."

"But still our situation is very similar to what Hotch's and Spencer's is right now," Morgan said. "You have to stay behind when I have to leave with the team. I'm going to really envy both of them for being able to work together once Spencer passes the Academy, so long as things go according to plan."

"Oh, they will, or the bureau is going to lose me as well as Spencer, as I will quit before I will allow us to be assigned to different departments, Strauss or anybody else be damned," Hotch growled. "If that happens the bureau is going to lose one of its brightest stars before he even has a chance to start. I won't be surprised in the least if our crime solving rate goes up at least 10% within a year and it's already pretty high now."

"Around 80%," Rossi confirmed.

"See if I'm not right and it doesn't go up to at least 90 or 95%, once Spencer joins the team."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it does," JJ said. "We are all aware how intelligent our boy genius is."

Spencer rolled his eyes at JJ silently objecting to the term boy genius and JJ simply grinned at him unrepentant.

"Thanks for dinner, Hotch," Morgan said rising to his feet, "but Penelope and I had better be getting home."

"Of course, give our godchildren a hug and a kiss from us," Hotch said.

"We will," Garcia promised giving her boss a hug and Spencer as well before she and Morgan headed for the door.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

20 months later

"I'm sorry Erin, it can't be done," a man with graying red hair said. "I know you wanted to separate Aaron Hotchner and Spencer Reid by placing Reid in some distant field office, but not only have orders come down from the top, there is also a marriage certificate."

Erin Strauss ground her teeth in impotent rage. She'd wanted a way get at Aaron Hotchner for years. She hated the alpha wolf Shifter with a passion and she thought that going after him through his supposed mate was a perfect solution, especially when she had learned that Spencer Reid had put in his application for FBI training at Quantico. Hotchner had never once given her an opening to try to get at him to either get him to quit or for him to be fired with cause.

"How old is that marriage certificate?" asked Strauss desperately grasping at straws.

"It's dated just a couple weeks before Reid entered the Academy," the man answered. "I would say that's a good indication that the two men knew they could possibly be separated once Reid graduated bond or no bond and so took steps to prevent it. It's no good, Erin. I don't really know what you have against Spencer Reid or Aaron Hotchner, I don't really care. I only agreed to try to find a way to separate the two at least temporarily, because I owed you a favor from way back, but those two have been a step ahead of you from the beginning, so I would think that's a good indication that Hotchner is aware of your attitude and possible schemes and so is taking steps to prevent damage to either him or his partner."

Strauss ground her teeth in rage not happy to admit, even to herself, that Aaron Hotchner was an intelligent man and so it was well possible. She could just imagine him thinking of ways to make sure that he and the man he had taken up with wound up in the same unit. She didn't believe for a minute that Hotchner and Reid were True Mates, but that was only because she didn't believe such a thing existed.

She hated the fact that that man she considered her enemy had been so damn happy for the last 10 years, but at that time there was nothing she could do about it for Hotchner made sure he never did anything that would get him suspended or fired. She had believed if only for a short time that she had hit the jackpot when she had heard that Hotchner's partner had applied to the Academy and that he had been accepted.

She hated to admit it, but Agent Hotchner's partner was a very intelligent man, and apparently he spoke six different languages and also read and wrote them to. She had been getting reports from some of the people she knew at the Academy and what she had read indicated that Reid would be a very capable agent. The instructors had been amazed how he passed every academic test put in front of him with the highest score possible and in less than an hour for each one. The reports also indicated, that while he wasn't the most athletic person at the Academy he passed every bit of training that they could throw at him with a solid score even if it wasn't spectacular, even his gun test. Strauss had learned that Agent Hotchner had called in numerous favors to make sure that his mate was placed in his unit and the instructors had indicated that he wouldn't really fit in any other unit, as the BAU was the only unit that would put his skills and intelligence to use immediately, so even if it was against policy for somebody who had just graduated from the Academy to be placed in such a prestigious unit it was going to happen as his IQ was just around 200, 198 actually and you needed to be intelligent to be a member of the Behavior Analysis Unit, which Spencer Reid definitely was.

Apparently Agent Hotchner's mate, if she believed in such a thing, was a genius if his IQ was any indication. She had to tried to get the higher-ups to see that having two people in the same unit that were in a romantic relationship was a bad idea, but word had come down, that Agent Hotchner had always been very professional and they were sure that Spencer Reid would be the same and if not then one of them could transfer to another unit, but that they needed to be given a chance to prove themselves and they would be given a year of evaluation. Strauss was sure that the two men would prove that they could work together and act professionally the whole time and would give her no legal leg to stand on when it came separating the two.

It looked like her dream of making Hotchner miserable, by placing his partner in some distant field office, even if it was only temporarily, was falling to pieces around her before it had really even had a chance to succeed. How was that man always at least two steps ahead of her? Strauss thought in rage. He was a profiler and good at predicting people's behavior and although Agent Hotchner seemed to basically ignore her, except when they had meetings, that didn't mean that he was unaware of her hatred of him.

In fact, she would bet a considerable amount of money that he knew very well that she didn't like him and he had probably even silently profiled her and then planned accordingly. She would find a way to get at Aaron Hotchner one day, but apparently now was not the time and her plan was not going to go as she hoped. She was going to have to accept Dr. Spencer Reid into the unit if he did indeed get assigned here, which was nearly a sure thing and then she was going to have to wait for an opportunity to present itself.

"What do you want me to do, Erin?" asked the man after a long silence where he had been silently watching as she struggled with her temper, trying to get it under control. "I really can't do much at all, as I will lose my job if I tried, and I might owe you another favor, but if I lose my job I'm not going to be very useful, am I? Besides, it's nearly guaranteed that Spencer Reid will be a part of the BAU upon his graduation and there's nothing I can do to change that."

Even if I wanted to, the man thought silently, actually grateful that he had failed at what Strauss had wanted him to do, because from what he had seen of both Aaron Hotchner and Spencer Reid they were nice men and he had no idea why Strauss hated Hotchner so much and as had already been indicated he didn't really care, but he was still glad that he hadn't been forced to transfer Reid to some distant office, because from what he knew of Shifters, wolf Shifters in particular, were the very vengeful sort and if his part in Strauss scheme was ever discovered he was sure that his body would never be found, nor would anybody ever be arrested for the crime. He wasn't sure if he believed in the fact that Shifters had one True Mate, but whether he believed in it or not he knew that revenge would be taken against him if anything happened to Agent Hotchner's partner if he'd had any part in it.

Erin hated to admit it, but the man sitting in front of her desk was right, as he wouldn't be very useful if he lost his job.

"You may go," Erin ordered angrily.

The man nodded gratefully and immediately rose from the chair and headed for her office door before she could change her mind and was gone so fast that he almost appeared to vanish before Strauss's eyes.

How was that man always at least two steps ahead? Strauss wondered. She assumed that he and Reid had gotten married to prevent her or anybody else's meddling, because otherwise they would've had a ceremony 10 years ago when they had first met.

You win, this time Agent Hotchner, Strauss thought unhappily knowing there was nothing she could do without risking losing her own position. She would just have to keep an eye out and hope an opportunity presented itself.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Congratulations!" Hotch told his mate giving him a long hug and kiss. "You passed with flying colors!

"Yes, congratulations, Special Agent Reid," JJ congratulated her friend giving him a hug.

"Thank you," Reid said grinning, as he admired his new badge. "By the way why didn't you tell me when I talked to you last that you were pregnant again? You look like you are at least three or four months along."

"I didn't want to distract you," JJ admitted blushing. "You needed to concentrate on passing the physical part of your training, not be distracted with thoughts that I was pregnant for the third and last time and yes, I'm about four months along."

"So how many are you carrying this time?" asked Reid with a raised eyebrow. He could understand JJ and Hotch's reasoning for not mentioning his friend's pregnancy, but that didn't mean he thought it was the right decision. Still, there was no point of getting mad about it, since it was over and done with.

"Well, the doctor says four, but warned Dario and I that it could be five or even six."

Spencer nodded for the same thing had happened to him during two of his pregnancies.

"I still think you should have told me," Spencer said glaring at Hotch briefly, but unable to maintain it because he had missed his mate so much over the last five months.

Hotch shrugged and simply said, "It was JJ's decision and I warned her that you would be very upset that you hadn't been told, but as she said she didn't want to distract you, so asked me not to say anything and since it wasn't really my news to tell I agreed."

"So do you know the sex yet?" asked Spencer.

"No, Dario and I have an appointment with the doctor next month to find that out, but I'm hoping for at least two of each," JJ answered.

"Well, congratulations, even if I'm finding out, while you're already four months along," Spencer said glaring at JJ who looked unrepentant.

"It will be good to have you on the team," Rossi commented changing the subject, slapping the younger man on the back.

"We need to celebrate," Morgan suggested.

"No, we will not be going to some bar, Morgan," Hotch told his friend sternly. "Spencer and I have been separated for five months, so all I'm intending to do is to take him home."

Spencer blushed knowing exactly what his mate was thinking, although he wouldn't object at all, as he had missed Aaron Hotchner and it had been extremely hard to get through the training because he did miss his mate so very much that the first few weeks were very hard and painful, but he had done it and now it was over and the two would never be separated for such a long time again.

"But Hotch!" Morgan protested. "We need to celebrate Spencer passing the training and getting assigned to the BAU."

"What about a compromise?" JJ suggested

"What kind of compromise?" Hotch asked cautiously

"Just dinner somewhere really nice," JJ said, "tomorrow before Spence has to report on Monday. That way it gives you two a day to get reacquainted and and we can still celebrate Spence's graduation from the Academy and I can't drink anyway with me being pregnant so dinner is a good compromise."

"Alright," Hotch conceded. "You guys make the reservation and text us with the time and place and we'll be there. Now if you don't mind, we're going to head home."

The rest of the team watched as Hotch strode away quickly Spencer following quite happily and keeping stride with his mate easily since both of them had long legs. None of the team left behind wanted to think about the fact that it wouldn't be long before the two of them were in bed having sex like crazed monkeys, since the two had been separated for so many months, but at least now that Spencer and Hotch were back together their boss and friend would stop being so grumpy and irritable all the time.

"You should have known Derek that Hotch was never going to agree to that suggestion," Garcia scolded her husband. "If the two of us were apart for so long getting a drink with friends would not be the first thing on my mind."

"You have a point," Morgan conceded

"Besides, Spence really isn't much of a drinker anyway," JJ pointed out quite calmly. "He's not the type to hang out in bars. Really I've never seen him drink more than an occasional glass of wine with dinner."

"And there's no way that he's going to get drunk right before he starts work on Monday and risk a hangover," Rossi added.

"I'll just have to work on his alcohol tolerance level," Morgan said. "He should be able to indulge in more than a couple of glasses of wine without getting drunk or hungover."

"Just leave him alone," Emily told Morgan, "He's not going to change in that way and I doubt very much that Hotch will let you either. If Reid wants to only indulge in a couple of glasses of wine or beer, then that should be enough for anyone, as not everyone has your alcohol tolerance level and they shouldn't be forced to try to keep up with you."

"Well, at least we'll get to see him more often, now that he's going to be working with us," Morgan said changing the subject knowing that his friends were right.

"Yes, that's true and I'm really looking forward to working with him," JJ said and the others agreed. "We all know how intelligent he is and other people are soon going to realize that as well. I hear that his instructors at the Academy were amazed at his academic performance and we all know that it takes a lot to impress them."

"Yes, I heard the same thing," Rossi said with a grin, as he was rather proud of the young man who had grown so much in the last almost 12 years and he knew that his old protégé was a much happier person with Spencer in his life.

"I'll make a reservation at a very nice restaurant I know," Rossi offered. "They're very exclusive, but the owner owes me a number favors."

"So what's the name of this place?" asked Garcia curiously

Rossi told his teammates as they walked back to their separate vehicles.

"Oh! That's a really nice place," Emily said, "or at least that's what I've heard anyway, since I've never been."

"Well, you'll get to go tomorrow night," Rossi said. "I'm going to get the reservations for seven, make sure you dress up nicely, since it's a very classy place."

"You do know that Spencer wouldn't want us to go to all this trouble for him?" JJ told everyone. "He's a very unassuming guy and you know he likes to dress nicely, but casually and not get all gussied up."

"He can get dressed up for this occasion," Rossi said firmly. "This is a first and we all know it. Nobody before him has been pulled directly into the BAU upon graduation as we all know that normally an agent must serve at least 8 to 10 years in another department or even several, before even being considered for a place in the BAU. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve to be posted with our unit, just that it has never happened before. He's a very talented young man, even if I know he's too modest to toot his own horn."

The others on the team didn't disagree and each headed for their own vehicle, except for Garcia and Morgan who had of course, driven together.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	15. Chapter 15

As soon as they were home and inside Hotch attacked his mate ripping his clothes to shreds and not caring in the least.

"Aaron! The children!" Spencer protested, even as every portion of his anatomy yearned for his mate's touch.

"Already taken care of," Hotch promised in a growl. "The oldest are staying with friends tonight, and the youngest are up in the nursery with Amelia, Harmony and Haven. Amelia knows not to come downstairs for the rest of the evening and to keep our pups occupied."

"Alright then," Spencer said realizing that his mate was way ahead of him and had made arrangements ahead of time, which really wasn't surprising, considering he had known that Aaron would immediately want to attack him the minute they had some privacy. They had been apart for five months after all and that was a long dry spell for a wolf Shifter or anybody really no matter the species, when they were as deeply in love as the two of them were.

Their sex life had always been healthy and active and even after nearly 12 years they usually made love at least three or four times a day, when Aaron was home. However, they had never been parted for months, which was a long time to not have sex, especially when you were used to making love several times a day.

"Don't you want to go upstairs?" asked Spencer.

"We'd never make it," Hotch told him his voice a growl, as he inhaled his mate's scent for the first time in months. "Never again will we be parted for so long a time, as being without you for those five months was pure torture."

"I agree," Spencer said softly, kissing his mate tenderly, but ravenously on the lips, almost attacking him. "5 months is way too long to go without making love with you, especially when you're used to having it several times a day at least when you're home. Believe me, I've missed you just as much as you missed me and I'm not a Shifter. I nearly quit more times than I care to remember, because I missed you and the children so much, but that old Potter and Reid stubbornness wouldn't let me fail, but only the thought that we would be working together at the BAU kept me at the Academy."

Hotch was extremely pleased that his mate had missed him just as much as he had missed the younger man and as of Monday the two of them would be working together, so they would never be parted for days or even a week at a time like it had been for nearly 12 years.

Hotch was done talking, and attacked his mate's mouth, causing him to give a needy moan that was half anticipation, half desperation.

"I need you, Aaron!" Spencer pleaded. "I need your cock inside me! Now!"

Hotch was more than happy to comply with that demand, although he knew it was going to hurt a great deal more than normal, because of the rough penetration with no lube, but he knew that Spencer didn't mind, as that often happened after he had returned home from a long, difficult case and although most times they both preferred to be as gentle as possible, there were times when his Shifter instincts took over. Like when he had been gone for even a couple of days for work rough sex occurred as soon as he walked in the door.

Hotch undid his pants and pulled both those and his underwear down his cock immediately springing to attention tall and proud, long and thick and swollen with his seed. Hotch pushed Spencer against the front door, spun him around and ordered him to place his hands against the wood of the door for support for this was going to be fast and hard and as soon as he was sure Spencer wouldn't fall because his legs wouldn't support him he let the fangs of his wolf form drop and then bit the back of his mate's neck hard enough that his fangs broke the skin and would leave a nice new mating mark that would be covered by Spencer's hair. At the same time that his fangs sunk into the skin of his mate's neck he shoved his bulging cock into his hole, pushing it in all the way to the hilt without bothering to be gentle for he knew that his mate wouldn't expect him to be, not after being apart for so long.

Spencer who had expected nothing else had relaxed his body as much as possible, so that his mate wouldn't have any trouble entering him as he knew that his passage would be much tighter than normal, simply because, he hadn't had any sex while he had been gone, and therefore, it had been months since he had done anything except masturbating to relieve his sexual tension, which didn't even come close to satisfying him after nearly 12 years of having sex with his mate. The bite of Aaron's fangs on his neck caught him by surprise, and he tensed for the moment, but then relaxed knowing that his mate would never hurt him and the wolf that was part of Aaron must have taken over, which was unsurprising considering.

Hotch groaned and immediately released his very painful cock into his mate's tight passage for the first time in five months, and therefore, relieved 20 weeks of sexual tension, where the wolf within him had yearned for the loving presence of his mate, as did the rest of him. The wolf, as well as the human side, had been very unhappy with the separation, even though he knew in this case it would only benefit them both as soon as Spencer graduated from the Academy. The only thing that had stopped him from pulling Spencer back home, was the fact that after he graduated they would be working together and therefore, never be apart for days or a week at a time like they had for the last almost 12 years and that was a very worthy goal, so Hotch had not done what he really wanted and now he was glad he had not, because now his mate was back at his side and that time of separation was over. As of Monday the two of them would be working in the same unit and working cases together, which he was immensely looking forward to and he knew that Spencer was as well. To work with his mate, to never be separated for days or a week, because he was in some distant city helping to catch a killer or some other wacko was a dream come true for him and he knew for Spencer as well.

Spencer let out a long low groan as soon as he felt his mate's seed enter his body, and his cock, which had already been at half mast the minute he saw Aaron again after so long that before they had even entered their home his body and his cock had been ready to go, but had became extremely and painfully engorged when he felt his mate's fangs sink into the back of his neck. Spencer knew instinctively that the wolf in Aaron had just marked him again and that the scar that the fangs had left would never fade completely, just like the one on the side of his neck never had and he didn't mind being claimed in this manner, so long as it was Aaron doing the claiming and no one else.

Apparently being separated for so long a time made Aaron and the wolf in him rather desperate, but then he could certainly understand that because so was he, as going from having sex several times a day to going cold turkey had not been easy for either one of them.

Spencer didn't care about the pain that came with the rough penetration, as he had been craving his mate's cock in his body for months now and that day had finally arrived. His body accepted the pain that followed as did his mind and actually found it rather titillating and exciting.

His climax swamped him as soon as he felt his mate's seed enter body for the first time in months, and his own cock exploded quite violently all over himself and the door, since Aaron was penetrating him from behind. Spencer was suddenly glad that he had his palms flat up against the front door because his legs suddenly felt very weak and wobbly, and if not for the support of his arms he would have fallen to his knees.

Suddenly Spencer felt hands gently grab him around the waist and he relaxed knowing that it was just the man he adored.

The two simply stood there for a few minutes saying nothing as Spencer tried his best to get his sense of balance back, but finally his legs stopped feeling all rubbery and like they wouldn't support his weight. Spencer knew that if Aaron hadn't supported his weight and allowed him to lean into his chest that he would have fallen, but his mate had anticipated the fact that his legs likely wouldn't support him and so had made sure that he didn't fall and possibly injure himself.

"I missed you," Spencer said finally leaning gratefully into his, Aaron's chest and burying his head in his mate's neck, inhaling his scent that he had missed just as much as the sex.

"I believe I just demonstrated how much I missed you," Hotch said his voice dry, but when Spencer locked up the warmth and love in his mate's dark brown eyes made him feel all good and soft inside.

"You did and I never could've asked for a better welcome home," Spencer assured him.

"Oh, we are not done," Hotch assured him with an evil seductive smirk causing Spencer to gulp and for the intense heat of desire to spread rapidly through his body. "That was just to relieve the sexual tension that both of us have been feeling for months now. Oh, no, I plan to take you to bed and not let you leave it until we go to dinner with the team tomorrow and once we are home again I plan to make love to you as much as possible before we have to go to work on Monday."

"Well, it's a good thing that both of us can take a Pepperup potion so that we're not too tired for work on Monday, since I have a feeling neither one of us will be getting very much sleep," Spencer said, calmly, but with quiet anticipation.

"No, we won't," Hotch agreed kissing the top of his mate's head reverently, so happy that the two of them were back together again and he knew that Spencer felt the same, without his mate having to say a word, as it was in his body language and the way that his mate relaxed in his arms and buried his nose in his neck taking in his scent. It was way that Spencer hadn't objected when he had bitten down on the back of the neck, he had tensed for a few seconds sure, but then relaxed once his shock and surprise at the action had faded knowing that he, Aaron would never hurt the man he adored, well except for a few bruises and sore muscles from a rough penetration. It was in the way Spencer eagerly anticipated his cock being rammed into his body without the benefit of lube and in the the way that his mate had accepted the pain that he knew was coming with the rough penetration and even seemed to enjoy it. It was in the desire, lust and love in his golden brown eyes and in every line of his body. If Spencer had missed him even a tenth as much as he had the younger man then Hotch didn't blame him in the least for being more then ready to be fucked, despite the pain since it had certainly been five very long months for both of them.

"Just so you know I haven't slept in that bed since you went to the Academy and been using one of the guestrooms. It just didn't seem right to sleep in that bed without you there and you know how I am anyway. You are aware I don't sleep very well in our bed by myself, so at least by moving to one of the guestrooms I got a decent night's sleep most nights, except for the very erotic dreams I've been having."

Spencer groaned at that and said, "Don't talk to me about sexual dream because believe me, I've been having them every night for the last 20 weeks, as they started the very first night I was away from you. Every time I closed my eyes I would immediately start dreaming about you and wake up with a hard-on, which I then had to relieve in the bathroom, preferably before the other cadets were up for the day, as I would have been so embarrassed if they had actually caught me relieving myself."

"Why? It's a perfectly normal reaction to get a hard-on while you're sleeping," said Hotch.

"It's normal for a teenager or someone in their early 20s, not for a 32-year-old man," Spencer told his mate.

"Yes, that's true," Hotch admitted, "but some men still get hard-ons even in their 40s, especially when they are married to someone they love very much or have a very active sex life. You know it varies from man to man anyway, as some men just have more of an active sexual drive than others do. I'm not really surprised that you were getting hard-ons, or having intense sexual dreams, since I certainly did while you were gone, and it just made me miss you all the more. The team will tell you that I've been rather grumpy and irritable these last few months because I missed you so much and masturbating..."

"Doesn't cut it when you used to having regular bouts of sex with somebody you love more than life," Spencer finished his mate's sentence.

"Exactly," Hotch agreed kissing his mate on the lips tenderly. "We had better get this cleaned up, and then I'm going to carry you upstairs and make love to you as often as I can until we have to go to that dinner."

"That's fine with me," Spencer immediately agreed looking forward to it. "That rather intense lovemaking session a few minutes ago didn't dim down my need for you one bit. My libido is demanding and it will take a very long time to be satisfied, especially since we have been parted for five fricking months, something that will never happen again, thank Merlin."

Hotch simply smirked at him and replied, "Just so you know the wolf in me is demanding that I throw you over my shoulder and take you to my den and fuck you senseless until you are so sore that you will have trouble walking by the time I am done."

"It's a good thing that we have some of that pain relieving potion in the cabinet then," Spencer said calmly, through his voice was laced with excitement and desire as well. "It should still be good for a few more months before I'll have to brew some more."

The pain relieving potion that Spencer was referring to, was really a cream and rubbed into any sore muscles it immediately took any pain away. It was really quite effective and both he and Aaron had been using it quite frequently, so that neither one of them would have to go into work sore or moving stiffly, when they had made love for hours and been a little to rough and demanding with each other, though Spencer had to admit it was usually Aaron who was rubbing the cream onto his leg muscles, especially his thighs and calfs, since they were the ones that were most often stiff and sore.

Both men loved rubbing the cream or lotion into the other's body and it usually led to them having sex again since rubbing in the cream was extremely sensual and made them want the other all over again, not that that was a difficult thing to have happen.

"So about this mess…" Hotch hinted and Spencer immediately waved his hand and muttered something under his breath and a second later the semen he had ejaculated during his climax was completely erased as if it had never been there at all. Spencer muttered something else and his ripped clothes also disappeared.

"Now that that's taken care of…" Spencer begin, stopped immediately as Aaron picked him up, flung him over his shoulder just as he had promised he would and begin to stride toward the stairs, smoothly and powerfully.

Since Spencer had expected nothing less after Aaron had told him what the wolf wanted to do, he was not surprised when it happened, although he felt a little exposed, considering that Aaron had been so eager for his body that he had ripped his clothes to shreds, having absolutely no trouble doing that because of his increased wolf Shifter strength, while his lover was still mostly dressed.

It was only minutes later that Hotch put his mate down on the bed that he hadn't slept in for months, because of Spencer's absence.

"We probably need fresh sheets," Hotch muttered disappointed that he hadn't thought about changing the sheets since he knew when his mate was graduating from the Academy.

"Here," Spencer said, "Scourgify!"

Immediately the dust that had gotten on the bed because it hadn't been slept in for so long disappeared and the sheets were once again immaculately clean.

Hotch was impressed despite himself, even though he had seen his mate perform this charm quite a bit over the years in order to get rid of collected dust and grime. In fact he never had to take his clothes to the dry cleaner anymore as there was several cleaning charms and also one that got out the wrinkles without having to use an iron. Hotch knew he had saved a lot of money over the last 12 years by not having to take his suits or other clothes to the dry cleaners. Spencer had even put a permanent non-wrinkling spell on every item he owned, except the ones that Hotch asked him not to because his clothes could not look like he had just put them on when he had been living in them for days, as that would've made people suspicions.

Spencer got rid of the dust in the rest of the room as well and soon it was just as clean as the bed sheets.

"There! That should do it," Spencer said. "Now you're welcome to fuck me senseless on clean sheets."

"Is that a command?" Hotch teased him and Spencer blushed.

"If you want to look at it that way, then yes, it is or you can look at it as a request, as either way is fine with me, just so long as you get on with it," Spencer said still blushing, though it was slowly fading.

"Well," Hotch said smilingly, "it is a command or a request if you prefer that I will have no trouble obeying, I promise you. Our little fuck session downstairs was only to relieve the sexual tension that we both felt after being apart for so long, so that we could make it upstairs without tumbling down them and breaking our necks."

"Which luckily, will never happen again. However, we had better get started then because I need to spend some time with the children, before we go to work on Monday, since I've been gone for 20 weeks as it is. Yes, I know the older ones talked to me frequently on the phone, but I don't want my babies to forget about me," Spencer said.

"They haven't, as I made sure to tell them stories about you and saying that you would be back," Hotch promised him. "The younger ones at least don't really understand why you haven't been there, but the older ones who are just as intelligent as we were at their age and maybe even moreso, so do understand that it was something you had to do. However, I do agree that you do need to spend time with them before you go into work on Monday, since they have missed you and they're not used to you being gone for so long."

"I hope I'm not going to feel guilty every time I have to leave them," Spencer said. "I mean I love them to death, but I really was getting bored at St. Murphy's, which doesn't mean that Addison and I aren't still going to be friends, just that the job itself was getting rather staid."

"The younger ones probably won't remember that you ever did anything else," said Hotch, "Since they're less then three years old and the older ones are mature enough to realize that you won't stop loving him just because you're not going to be home every night now and that you're still going to spend time with them just like I do when I'm home. You'll be much better dad when you're happy in your career, because if you don't love what you do that translates into how you act around your children. Someone who is happy in their job is a much better parent in the long run."

"I know it," Spencer said quietly cuddling into the strong protective arms of his mate. "I'm sure it's going to be hard at first to be separated from them for days at a time, but they'll be fine with Amelia, her granddaughters and the other three nannies we hired and if I wasn't already aware of that I never would have even thought about going to the FBI Academy, because I missed them furiously while I was gone, just as much as I missed you."

Spencer turned his head to look into the understanding eyes of his mate Aaron Hotchner and felt more comforted then he had in months. He felt sure that everything would be alright, then at anytime previously because he realized that his mate had gone through the same struggles that he was going through now and that he had emerged a better man for them.

"You're welcome to get back to what you were doing downstairs," Spencer said silkily and he was immediately placed on the free side of the bed where Hotch instantly pounced on him. The wolf in Aaron Hotchner would be more than happy, to fuck his mate senseless for the next day or two, although he also knew that he had a responsibility to his pups as well, and so he would make sure that Spencer spent time with them, although not for the next few hours his mate was his alone, as he hadn't even begun to get the buildup of sexual tension or the intense need for his, Spencer out of his system after being parted from him for so long, despite that quick, rough fuck session downstairs.

If he had his way he wouldn't allow Spencer to leave this bed until it was time for dinner with the team tomorrow night and as soon as they got home the two of them would be back in bed fucking each other senseless until they both had to go into work on Monday. Hopefully, by then the wolf in Hotch would no longer feel the intense need for his mate as both he and Spencer would have gotten the last five months apart where neither had had sex out of their systems by then. Of course, that didn't mean that they wouldn't make love frequently, just that they would be able to work together smoothly, without feeling the driving need to attack each other in full view of other people and especially not at work as that would either get them fired or put on different teams and Strauss would just love that. Hotch could already hear her gloating in his head. No, it was better to get all the buildup out of their systems before they both had to go to work on Monday, so that didn't happen.

Hotch enthusiastically went back to worshiping his mate's gorgeous body, which was slimly muscled by nipping at the skin gently, but not actually breaking it. In other words, his little bites would leave bruises, but would do no further damage. Bruises didn't really matter because Spencer had some very good bruise healing paste and all he would have to do was rub it into his skin and the bruises would disappear in minutes. Of course, Spencer knew that the wolf in him liked the bruises on his body as they were a sign of his ownership and so unless they were in a very sensitive area or showed above his clothes he usually just let them heal on their own, which Hotch was grateful for because that meant Spencer truly understood without it needing to be said, that the wolf looked upon the bruises in a very predatory fashion and liked them on his mate's skin, even if no one else would ever know, and while they would evidently fade they would remain for several weeks.

Hotch used his tongue to lick over Spencer's stomach, reveling in the taste of his mate's skin, as this was one of the things he had missed the most, and that was the taste of the man he adored on his tongue and in his mouth.

Spencer for his part, tried to lay patiently, but finally when he could take no more of his mate's pleasurable torture he began to wriggle frantically and begged, "Please! Aaron! I'm going to explode if you don't enter me right this second! I'll never have enough of your cock inside me for as long as I live and it has been far to long since I experienced it!"

"Well," Hotch commented smiling. "Usually you last much longer, but I know being apart for so long has a lot to do with it, so I will be more than happy to fulfill your request I promise you. Besides, I don't believe I could last much longer myself at the moment."

Spencer was absurdly pleased to hear that Aaron was having as much trouble controlling himself to make their lovemaking last longer just as he was. Spencer knew that now that the two of them were back together it wouldn't be long before they were back to their usual high standards of lovemaking and that meant not coming for at least an hour or more, but right now both he and Aaron were extremely sexually charged, because they hadn't had sex in so many months, thanks to him being at the Academy training to be an FBI agent.

It didn't really matter anyway since he and Aaron often wanted each other so much that they came within minutes, even after being together for 12 years and having made love hundreds of times by that point in their relationship. Other times they wanted to be slow and tender and could keep each other from coming for more than an hour before they finally gave into their mutual desire for each other.

No two lovemaking session were ever the same and that was fine as it gave them more variety. Aaron had even brought home quite a few sexual toys and both of them used them frequently. Spencer had at first been fascinated by the sexual toys Aaron had shown him, as he had not known that such things existed, since he had grown up in the wizarding world for the most part and they had nothing remotely like it. Aaron had asked him to at least give the devices a try and because he had and loved them, the two of them now had much more variety to their sex life.

Hotch used his finger covered with lube to enter his mate's hole and managed to hit Spencer prostrate, causing Spencer's body to arch off the bed as that little action caused intense, earthshattering pleasure to surge through his entire body. Hotch only smirked at his mate's body's reaction, as he had expected nothing less, then added a second finger and then used them both in a scissorlike motion to stretch his mate's passage as much as possible since he knew this would be much tighter than normal, simply because Spencer hadn't had sex in months and masturbating didn't count, since it was just stroking your penis until you came and didn't have anything to do with entering your hole, although Hotch supposed that Spencer could've done that with his fingers, but probably hadn't.

"Oh! Oh! Your fingers feel so good!" Spencer whimpered, as pleasure coursed through him even more strongly than before.

"This is just the beginning," Hotch promised his mate huskily with a maniac smirk. "Once I'm done preparing you, you will know what real pleasure is, as that quick session downstairs won't be able to compare to what I'm going to do to you now. You know I've been having intense sexual dreams for months and I intend to try some of the things that happened in them before we have to meet the others for dinner and I have a very vivid imagination."

"Quit telling me about it and get on with it," Spencer ordered gruffly his voice incredibly strained. Spencer propped himself up on his elbows and kissed his mate on the lips tenderly, but also deeply, as if drinking in Aaron's very essence. Hotch automatically opened his mouth to his mate's questing tongue and Spencer took that as the invitation it was, his tongue sweeping inside his mate's mouth immediately. The two men's tongues battled each other for quite a long time, neither gaining dominance over the other and they only broke apart when they needed to breathe.

"I've been without having your cock inside me for way too long, but luckily, we'll never be parted again," Spencer told his mate huskily, pulling him down for another kiss. The two men kissed for a few more minutes, but finally Hotch positioned his cock at his mate's entrance after making sure to slather it with lube, as he didn't want to hurt his mate again like he knew he had downstairs, although Spencer certainly hadn't complained. Hotch knew that his mate was much tougher then most people who knew him thought, for no one who was not could have passed the FBI training and would have dropped out after the first couple of days, but still he would be as gentle as he possibly could be, simply because he loved him.

Hotch entered his mate slowly and gingerly, slipping right in thanks to his preparation, and his lube covered cock and it helped that his mate's hole was still loose due to that rough session downstairs and also the preparation work with his lube coated fingers.

"Ah!" Spencer sighed. "How I could I have gone five months without feeling you inside me is beyond me, especially since my memory is perfect. I remember every time your cock has slipped inside my body and how much I enjoyed it and wanted you to do it again immediately."

"We'll never be parted again," Hotch swore to him his voice a growl of lust, desire and determination. "I don't think I could stand it."

"Me either..." Spencer began to say before his eyes rolled back in his head as his mate hit his prostrate, once, twice, then three times all in quick succession causing him to give a long continuous groan, as pleasure coursed through his entire body, from the top of his head to the soles of feet, although the strongest feelings were of course, centered in his stomach and cock.

Spencer continued to groan, as his climax finally overtook him and his eyes rolled back in his head again until only the whites were showing and his cock spurted long thick ropes of semen onto his stomach, his mate and the bedsheets.

As for Hotch he thrust his cock forward once, twice, three times before he to finally came, in his mate's body releasing his semen for the second time in quite a few long spurts. Hotch felt his cock throb again releasing another spurt of seed, while the wolf howled in satisfaction in his head. His mate was beneath him, and he could do whatever he liked to him and he was sure that Spencer wouldn't object, but for right now his libido was satisfied although he was sure that wouldn't last long and all he really wanted was to lay down and hold his mate close to him to make sure that he was really there, and not a figment of his imagination, as he had been dreaming of them being reunited for months now and finally they were.

"What you don't want to do another round?" Spencer asked lazily through half lidded eyes as Hotch rolled off him to lay on his side of the bed.

"Not right this minute," Hotch said his tone extremely satisfied and sated. "At the moment my libido and also the wolf in me is satisfied, but don't expect that to last very long. Right now, all I want to do is hold you close and smell your scent that your skin emanates naturally, not to mention the way you smell after you have come, which is a little different from when you are aroused and the smell of your semen that's all over the sheets, your body and mine. I just love the way you smell right after we have had sex and trust me you do smell different than you normally do."

"Yes, I've noticed that ever since I transformed into a wolf Animagus for the first time," Spencer said cuddling into his mate's arms, feeling warm, content and safe. "My nose is much more sensitive then it used to be, but then going through the transformation into my Animagus form for the first time made my sense of smell and hearing keener then they used to be. I can now smell things I never could before and other scents are much stronger."

Hotch for his part simply pulled his mate as close to him as possible and soon the two men were laying facing each other mere inches apart.

"I'm so glad to have you home," Hotch said, not really caring at the moment if he was repeating himself.

"I know," Spencer agreed. "There's nothing like being home and able to sleep in your own bed, nor nothing like being able to have sex with your spouse."

"Definitely not," Hotch agreed with a rather lustful grin, "and trust me we're not even halfway done this is just a calm before the storm."

"I am aware," Spencer promised his mate. "I'm nervous about starting work on Monday."

"You shouldn't be, you'll be fine," Hotch assured his mate, leaning over just enough to kiss him on the forehead. "You have to have a meeting with Strauss as all the new agents assigned to our unit do, but you know exactly how to handle her, as you've done it in the past. Don't let her get under your skin, and if she does don't let her know it. Be polite, but don't let her push you around. She'll probably try the same ploy that she did with Emily or it might be something completely different. If she tries to subtly blackmail you to spy on the team and on me you ought to be able to recognize it and shoot her down immediately."

"If Strauss really believes after our first confrontation that I would really spy on you or the team and report back to her she needs a harsh lesson in reality. I doubt very much that she'll do that, because she knows I earned my spot in the BAU and really I don't think she's going to try anything, because she ought to know that I would immediately report it to you so you could deal with it. Sure you called in some favors to get me placed in your unit, but that's only because you knew that I would fit right in and that no one would accept my abilities, except people who already know me. If there's one advantage to joining your unit, is that I know every one of the team, well, except Ryan Matthews and they know me. Really we're a family, one that isn't related by blood, but by choice. I'm sure if I started with the unit, at 23 or 24, if we had never actually met until then that it would have taken a long time for any of the team to accept my abilities."

"It would have taken the team awhile to get to know you and for you to know them," Hotch admitted, "but that is just the way things are supposed to be, but they would've accepted you immediately as their teammate, even if they didn't know anything about you at first. All of you would have gone through a get to know you stage just like you did this time, except as a civilian, instead as a FBI agent, but they would've accepted you as one of them because they know that me or Gideon before me would never choose someone that wouldn't fit in. I've always been very careful about who I accepted into the unit and I nearly made a mistake with Emily and rejected her just because I thought she had gotten there because of her mother, but she is a damn fine profiler and I'm glad that I gave her a chance."

"You know I need to get to know Matthews better, as he's left out a lot at times, just because he doesn't know that I'm a wizard and he's the only one on the team that doesn't. It's not really fair to him and I think both of us together need to tell him sometime fairly soon."

"You're right, he does need to know and he can keep a secret and I'm not sure why I never suggested that we tell him as he's been on the team almost 5 years," Hotch said.

"Well, he is kind of quiet and unassuming and a lot of times you just forget he's there because he blends in so well," Spencer said. "Do you believe he'll accept what he's told? Or will he be like Gideon from years ago and think I'm the spawn of the devil or something ridiculous like that?"

Hotch thought about it, but finally said, "No, he won't think that it all, but he might very well be hurt and upset that we didn't tell him a long time ago, especially when the rest of the team knows."

"Yeah, we should've included him much sooner," Spencer said regretfully, "but I suppose we've just been so wrapped up in our own lives...not that that's excuse or anything."

"He's very quiet and unassuming as you said, but he does have a temper to go along with his red hair and he is a very good profiler as well. If he hadn't been he never would've made it onto the team or at least not been able to keep his spot for so long. The others on the team know him much better than I do, but he is a trustworthy man, that's about your age actually."

"I think it's time to change that," Spencer told Hotch who nodded in agreement. "If you believe he can be trusted then I'll tell him and I'm sure he'll believe it much easier than the others simply because Ireland is a land of magic. Ireland out of all the countries in the world is a land of leprechauns, the sidhe, selkies and pookas and where they believe in the supernatural much easier than they do in other places. You know the ironic thing is that even though he has a faint Irish accent, his last name is originally English/Scottish."

"Well, technically, Ireland is part of the British empire and so is Scotland. His family probably moved there centuries or at least decades ago," Hotch said and Spencer nodded.

"In any case, he will probably accept that I am a wizard and that there are people in the world that have real magic much easier, because Ireland is a mystical land with lots of legends of magical creatures and also of real magic."

"He's also a wolf Shifter and I'm not sure if I ever told you that," Hotch said.

"You didn't, but I figured it out on my own. It's really not all that hard to figure out which humans are Normals or Shifters, if you know what to look for. Wolf Shifters in particular tend to move smoothly, almost seeming to glide across the floor, as if their muscles work differently from a Normal's or magical folks, but really it's just the fact that they are partly animal as well as human that causes the effect. Wolf Shifters in particular tend to be powerful and move with deadly grace, like a predator stalking their prey, which is only natural considering they are partly predator. This is a characteristic that all Shifters possess to a greater or lesser degree, depending on species and personality. There are other signs, but the way they move is the most obvious."

"We'll invite Ryan for dinner, sometime in the very near future," Hotch promised, "but you need to get settled into the BAU, first which will take at least a month or two."

"I'm not looking forward to that meeting with Strauss," Spencer said with a grimace.

"You'll do just fine," Hotch assured his mate. "After that initial meeting you probably won't see her much if at all, but we must remember to act very professionally in the office, but when we're alone with the team we can relax a little. The whole team often goes out to lunch together as you know as you have joined us on more than one occasion, and when we're away from prying eyes we can act more naturally."

"Like on the plane," Spencer murmured and Hotch nodded.

"Like on the plane, although we must be careful not to go to far. I'm sure the team won't mind if we sit beside each other so our legs are touching or if we hold hands or if you fall asleep on my shoulder, you know things that any normal married couple does in the presence of other people."

"We can kiss, lightly on the cheek or the lips in front of them just like a male/female couple does, but do not let it go past that," Spencer said it Hotch nodded.

"Exactly anything a couple can do that's perfectly acceptable to do in company," Hotch said. "Touching your spouse on the arm or the shoulder is perfectly acceptable, kissing on the cheek or the lips as you suggested is also acceptable, so long as it doesn't get out a hand, and turn into a major smooching session."

"I'll make sure I control myself while in the office," Spencer promised. "I know what's socially acceptable behavior and what's not. I will do nothing, to give Strauss or anybody else ammunition to move me to another department or to fire you or force you into retiring."

"I know you won't," Hotch assured his mate. "I'm not worried about that at all, we're having this conversation just so you know I realize how hard it's going to be for you to control yourself, since you're not used to doing it. You've never had think what kind actions you can take that are socially acceptable because we've never worked together before, but I have every faith in you that you'll adopt easily."

"Thanks," Spencer told his mate kissing him on the lips. "Your faith in me will not be misplaced."

"I know that already," Hotch said. "If I did not I never would've gone along with your plan to go through the FBI Academy or at least I would've tried my best to talk you out of it."

"You have more faith in me than I do," Spencer said blushing at his mate's compliment.

"And with good reason," Hotch said, calmly caressing his mate's cheek. "Now you just need to have faith in yourself. You need to believe that you'll fit right in with the team just like you always have before, except this time it will be in a official capacity, instead of just as friends hanging out together."

Spencer nodded and determination came into his eyes. He was determined to prove his mate's faith in him and not even Strauss would stop him from making Aaron proud of him.

"Aaron! I want you! I need you!" Reid suddenly demanded, his libido suddenly awakening, with a vengeance.

Hotch growled sounding very like the wolf he was down underneath his human skin and was instantly on top of his mate who had rolled over onto his back. If his mate wanted him so badly, who was he to refuse? He would never refuse his mate's request when it came to the two of them fucking each other senseless, since he was not a fool and he would definitely be one to turn down an offer like that. His mate's body was absolutely gorgeous, as it seemed to glisten under the faint light that was coming from the magical orb light in one corner and it made Hotch almost literally salivate and lust, need and intense desire to shoot through his body, straight to his cock, which instantly got rock hard as a result. He needed to be inside his mate now! He had been without him for far to long! Never again would the two of them be parted for more then a few hours, which was why he had agreed to let his mate go to the FBI Academy in the first place.

Hotch watched as Spencer spread his legs as wide as he was comfortable with in invitation and also placed a plump pillow under his hips, so that his mate and would have easy access to his anus. His mate's cock was already more than half hard, and Hotch gave it a long, firm stroke, his hand wrapping around it, causing it to harden further. Several pearly beads of cum were already starting to drip out of the tip and Spencer purred and whimpered, eager for more, which showed in his body language, as he was nearly vibrating with eagerness and excitement. Hotch used his tongue to lick around the tip of his mate's cock licking up every pearly bead of cum that it produced causing Spencer's fingers to dig into the mattress, as the feelings in his stomach increased tenfold with that little action. Hotch was extremely pleased at his mate's reaction and so used his tongue to lick up and down Spencer's entire cock, causing his lover to howl with pleasure sounding almost like a wolf himself. Spencer released the mattress, only to dig his fingers into Hotch's back, leaving deep scratches that broke the skin and bled. His mate's action caused him to growl at the pain and the pleasure that mixed themselves together, causing a reaction in his cock, which stood up straighter and got stiffer, and seemed to swell even larger so that it became even more painfully engorged.

His mate had always been a very vocal lover and Hotch didn't mind that at all as the wolf in his chest howled its satisfaction at the reaction he got from the man he adored, as it was obvious that his mate had indeed missed him just as much as he had the other man just from the way that Spencer's fingers dug into the skin of his shoulder blades. The scratches that his mate caused were quite deep and stung like the dickens, but he didn't mind that as it just proved that Spencer had indeed missed him and was just as eager for their sexual reunion as he was. Spencer never just lay there and took it, as he was always very active, and made little sounds that drove Hotch wild with desire and lust and the way his mate writhed beneath his much larger frame didn't help matters at all and in fact made him want the other man all the more. Hotch had often wondered if this lover did it on purpose or if it was just something he couldn't control when in the midst of pleasure not that it really mattered either way.

Finally when he knew his lover's cock was ready to explode as the signs were obvious since it had swelled to at least twice its normal size and started dribbling a steady stream of cum out of the tip, Hotch did what he had been intended to do all along and inserted his mate's cock into his warm, wet, moist mouth sucking on it.

It didn't take more than a few seconds, before Spencer's nails were digging into his back even deeper than before, drawing even more blood.

"Merlin! That feels so exquisite!" Spencer exclaimed, nearly losing consciousness, at the intense sensations he was experiencing. Spencer loved his mate sucking on his cock as this was not the first time it had happened, nor would it be the last, but it had simply been so long since he had felt Aaron's mouth on his member that the sensations were indescribable. "I'm going to come!"

Hotch didn't respond only started sucking faster and it was only seconds later when he was swallowing every single drop of cum that his mate had to give, while Spencer howled his intense pleasure to the room sounding like a wolf himself, since he now was one, albeit a different kind then he was, as his wolf shape was not something he had been born with. At the same time Spencer was howling his pleasure Hotch's own cock released it's load all over his mate, himself and the bed.

Hotch released Spencer's cock from his mouth and it immediately lay flaccid, looking much smaller than it had just a few minutes ago when it had been so swollen with the younger man's seed. Hotch laid back down beside his mate, cuddling as close as he could get as he had missed his lover so desperately.

"I love you," Hotch told Spencer softly.

"I love you too," Spencer said tiredly curling up against his lover.

"I know it, and you proved it to me to, by leaving those lovely scratch marks all over my upper back. The wolf in me likes your aggressiveness and wants you do keep it up," Hotch said.

"I've left you with scratch marks before," Spencer said logically.

"True enough, but never as deep or as many," Hotch said. "those scratch marks tell me that you were as desperate for me as I was for you. Saying the words is one thing, actions speak for themselves and I am extremely pleased at the moment that you left those marks on my back, even though they sting like the dickens, but luckily, they'll heal in just a few minutes thanks to a Shifter's healing ability."

Spencer blushed, because even though he had been shocked at himself at how aggressive he had been, apparently Aaron was pleased and that was all that mattered.

"It's probably the wolf that is now a part of me now, as it likely wanted to give you a sign that I had indeed missed you," Spencer suggested.

"You are welcome to do what you did tonight anytime, I don't mind at all I promise you," Hotch said.

"I'll remember that," Spencer promised and then said. "I think I need to go spend some time with the children before they go to bed," Spencer said. "After that though if you want to get back to doing what you were that's okay and I promise I won't object."

"All right," Hotch agreed immediately, knowing that Spencer was right and he did need to spend some time with their youngest pups, since he had been gone for five months. "It was you that initiated that last round, although I'm certainly not complaining."

"I know, but I believe my libido is satisfied for the moment, as that last round was very intense," Spencer said with a smile that was so large it could be termed shit-eating.

"Mine certainly is, as the wolf in me is just laying down radiating smug satisfaction," Hotch said with a smile kissing his mate on the forehead and then on the lips. "He's also licking his lips obviously wanting more, but satisfied for the moment."

"Well, I'm glad you're satisfied for the moment anyway, because I don't think I'm up for another round right this second. I do need some time to rest and recover in between, even if you don't," Spencer said kissing his mate's cheek.

"I'll be more than happy to rub some of that cream into any sore spots," Hotch promised his mate silkily in a growl.

Spencer blushed but said, "I love your massages, even without that cream, but with the cream it's absolutely heaven."

"I'll make sure you're ready to go to work on Monday," Hotch promised with a leer, "as we can't have you limping the first day on the job, because everybody will know what we've been up to if you go into work with any stiffness or a limp."

Spencer groaned, as he imagined that scenario. "Morgan would tease me about it for the rest of my career. The team knows what we're doing, but there is a large difference in them knowing it in their heads, then in having it confirmed, especially in such an obvious way."

"I'll make sure you're not limping by the time we go into work on Monday," Hotch promised, "because for one thing we can't let Strauss see you like that, especially not on your very first day. Strauss would know in an instant where that limp came from as she is not a stupid woman."

"No, I definitely don't need Strauss on my back on my very first day," Spencer agreed immediately.

Spencer rose muttering Lumos which produced a soft glow from the ceiling on one side of the room, where something that looked like nothing more then a round orb was attached to the ceiling in a corner. There were orbs in all four corners of the room, and they activated with this simple Lumos, without the need for wands as the magic was in the orbs themselves. The orbs had several levels of light and all you had to do to get a higher level was to repeat the charm and to get it to its brightest level quickly you said Lumos Maximus and if you wanted it completely dark you simply said Nox which was the counterspell. It was kind of like snuffing out candles actually, one at a time.

Spencer rooted through his closet and emerged again with a pair of comfortable sweat pants and a t-shirt, both worn around the edges. These items were some of the oldest in their shared closet Hotch knew and were only used to wear around the house in order to be comfortable and were never worn outside. When Spencer left the house he wore comfortable causal, slacks or jeans and depending on the weather a shirt with an an open collar, a button-down or a sweatshirt and very occasionally he wore something like a t-shirt if they were going to go to the park with the children for example, which was usually a family event since it took a lot of adults to keep track of that many children and make sure they didn't get into mischief or lost.

"So shall we go and spend some time with the children?" asked Spencer after getting dressed.

Hotch nodded and began to get dressed as well and it was less then five minutes later that both men emerged from their bedroom and headed for the nursery.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

The next day

Hotch and Spencer stepped out of the car at the restaurant that Rossi had texted him the name of the place that he had gotten a reservation at. Rossi had also texted to make sure they dressed nice as it was an exclusive place.

Spencer had grimaced at that and gotten into his one suit, with white silk shirt, open collar and his dragon hide boots that to anybody else looked like dress shoes as he was not going to have his toes pinched in real dress shoes and in fact his dragon hide boots looked like any kind of footwear he wanted and went with whatever he was currently wearing. He never wore anything else and no one, except another witch or wizard would ever know and then only if they were observant. He had been through several pairs over the years, because he stood on his feet so much and in fact he had better invest in another couple of pairs since he knew that there would be a lot of walking and running in his future and he wanted comfortable footwear so that his feet wouldn't be so sore after a long day.

Hotch also had a pair and he had been extremely grateful that he no longer had to wear dress shoes that pinched his feet and had showed his appreciation in a very pleasurable way. Normally Hotch would not have been able to get the boots to change from what they were, since it took magic, but ever since their bonding and Spencer discovering that he now had a Shifter's healing ability they had discovered though experimentation that Hotch now had just enough magic to get things like the boots to change into whatever kind of footwear he wanted, though he couldn't do so much as a Lumos spell and get it to work, but changing the boots took more concentration then magic and just required a touch of the latter, since most of the magic was in the boots themselves.

"Let's go," said Hotch putting an arm around his mate's waist and ignored the glare that the maitre d sent his and Spencer's way when they entered the restaurant like that.

Hotch calmly gave his name and said that they were meeting Dave Rossi for dinner. The maitre d's expression changed to one of neutrality and he suddenly looked pathetically eager to please causing Spencer to roll his eyes and he knew that Aaron felt like doing the same, but he wouldn't as that would have been rude and Aaron was never rude in situations like this, even when it was deserved.

"This way, sir," a waiter said leading them to a small private room that Rossi had reserved.

"Hey! Spence! Hotch!" JJ greeted her boss and her new teammate.

"It's about time you got here!" Morgan added. "I'm starved!"

"You're always hungry," Garcia told her mate affectionately having been much happier ever since she and Morgan had gotten together.

"We're right on time Morgan, so you couldn't have been here that long," Spencer said pretending to check his watch, which was an expensive platinum wrist unit that had been a gift from his mate on their anniversary a few years ago. Spencer loved it and had placed spells on it so that it was nearly indestructible and was protected from normal wear and tear. It kept excellent time, so it was always accurate and it was also engraved on the bottom. The actual numbers on the face were roman numerals done in gold, and the minute and second hands were also gold, while the actual face was a dark blue that was nearly black. It really was a great looking watch and would last for centuries to come. Hotch had been rewarded for his generosity as Spencer remembered almost attacking him and that the two had some of their best sex ever.

"We've been here five minutes, and placed bets how late you'd be," Garcia offered. "I won because I bet you would be on time."

Hotch rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Let's eat, like Morgan I'm starved and have worked up a rather wolfish appetite."

"I wonder why?" Ryan said with an easygoing grin speaking for the first time. "Congratulations on your graduation, Spencer and on your joining the team. You'll be a great asset, although I was surprised when you decided to go to the Academy."

"Thank you, Ryan," Spencer said shaking the man's hand. "I just needed a change from what I was doing that's all."

Spencer didn't say so, but since Ryan was also a Shifter he understood the being able to work with his mate was just an added bonus and that he would never have been placed in the BAU if it wasn't believed that he could do the job. Besides, Ryan knew that Spencer was by far one of the most intelligent people he had ever known, and was probably smarter then the whole team put together and every single member of the team were extremely intelligent individuals.

Ryan had always been amazed at how fast Spencer read and how he remembered it forever afterwards, never needing to look at a menu a second time, unless it changed.

Hotch and Spencer sat down in the two places side by side their legs actually close enough to touch and that was the way both men liked it, to be as close as possible to each other, but still be doing what was considered socially acceptable.

"So have you guys already decided on what you're ordering?" asked Spencer after reading the entire menu in less then a minute.

"We did, before you got here," Rossi said, "since most of us were a few minutes early. By the way I'll be paying for everyone tonight and I will accept no arguments on the subject, are we clear?"

"There's no need to," Emily protested and the others nodded in agreement with their teammate.

"I'm happy to as this is a celebration for Spencer's FBI graduation and his acceptance into the BAU, which is more than deserved and long overdue," Rossi said firmly, but with a smile.

Spencer blushed knowing that was Dave was saying was that he believed that he should have have gone through the Academy years ago.

The others protested, but Dave remained firm and everybody finally gave in, in the face of their teammate's stubbornness, since their was no point of arguing with him, as Rossi never gave in once he had made up his mind.

After that they all had a pleasant dinner and chatted about everything under the sun, from their work at the BAU, to some of the cases they had solved, to children and how they were doing. Only three of the team weren't parents and that was Ryan, Rossi and Emily. JJ had met a bear Shifter by the name of Dario Malone and although the name was certainly Irish he was as American as apple pie, with an accent that marked him as from the midwest, through he had said that his ancestors had come from Ireland more than 300 years ago. They had met on a case about six years ago, and had clicked immediately. Both of them were sad that they lived in different cities that we're so far apart and although they visited each other quite frequently on the weekends it was hard for both of them to be separated for weeks at a time. Hotch had known immediately, that the two of them were True Mates and that it would end either with one of them transferring, or they would both be miserable. Luckily, it was Dario who had transferred to Virginia, within just a few months as the company he worked for had a branch there, and when he did he immediately moved into JJ's apartment. Dario had proposed two months after that and less then a six months after their wedding their triplets were born all fraternal boys. JJ and Dario had then had to go house hunting, as their apartment was too small for their growing family until Spencer and Hotch had bought a place for them as a wedding gift and they would accept no protest that it was way too much. JJ and Dario had finally had to give in, in the face of JJ boss and his mate's determination, and they both thanked Hotch and Spencer several times, but also saying they hadn't had to do it

The place that Spencer and Hotch had bought was a grand old house, of indeterminate style, that was quite large with 15 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, one of those being a half bath and a big old country style kitchen, living room, dining room and den, and it was in good condition and something that Dario and JJ definitely couldn't have afforded on their own. The bedrooms were plenty big enough for their children to share, but since there was only 5 of them there was no need for that and that left a lot of guestrooms and one room had been turned into an office for both JJ and Dario.

Just three years after moving into their house JJ had given birth to twin girls, also fraternal. JJ had claimed after that that that she was done having children and that she was going to have her tubes tied, but Dario had convinced her to hold off on that and to get pregnant one last time and now she was pregnant with quadruplets, though the doctor had warned her that it could very well be more. This was the last time she was going to be pregnant JJ had told the team and she was going to have her tubes tied immediately after this, because nine or ten children were more than enough for her and Dario to handle, even though they had excellent childcare thanks to Spencer volunteering Amelia and her granddaughters, which the older lady, and her two assistants didn't mind since she now had plenty of help to take care of all the children as three more nannies had been hired and vetted by Amelia. Hotch and Spencer had agreed to let Amelia do the interviews, as she knew who would be suitable and who wouldn't be and besides both well remembered the frustration of trying to find someone suitable last time and neither wanted to go through the same frustrating process again. Dario and JJ of course, paid Amelia and her assistants for their time and although that got expensive, Dario had a good job that paid well as did JJ so it really wasn't a problem. Besides, having someone to watch the children that they trusted was a huge relief to both of them as babies were kidnapped for ransom all the time and JJ in particular had made some enemies over the years, who would just love the chance to get revenge by kidnapping one or more of her children.

Amelia would have done it for free, since she was paid quite well by Spencer and Hotch to look after their 22 children when they weren't there, but both JJ and Dario had as had Garcia and Morgan insisted. With so many children in the nursery, normally at least 12 to 25 or 30 at one time it was a good thing that it could be expanded by magic, with everything that it contained doubling at the same time. The older children over five of course, didn't need to stay in the nursery and so could play in the house so long as they didn't try to leave.

In any case, JJ was due in just a few months and it showed as her belly was enormous. She was still traveling with the team, but worked mostly from behind the scenes and sat down a great deal. If she went into labor, the team was prepared to rush her to the hospital of whatever city they were in and only Hotch knew that Spencer had read up on his muggle medical techniques where it concerned helping a women give birth in the field just in case, but both Hotch and Spencer hoped that it wasn't necessary because it wasn't a single child they were talking about, but quads and very possibly quints. There was no way that all four or five babies would be facing the proper direction and JJ was scheduled for a c-section in four months. Carrying multiples wasn't for sissies, though JJ hadn't complained, but probably only because Spencer made sure he kept her well supplied with the potion that eliminated back pain that wouldn't harm the fetuses, although he had asked Addison if it was safe for muggles to use first.

"So how is your pregnancy going?" Spencer asked JJ, in genuine concern for he knew very well how hard it was to carry so many little lives within you and to make sure they stayed healthy and weren't born to early.

"It's going fine," JJ promised her friend. "I won't say I'll be sorry when they're born though, since carrying all this extra weight around isn't easy."

"It must be tough carrying all that extra weight around," Emily said sounding a little envious for she wanted children of her own, but had never met anyone that she liked enough to get pregnant by, well, except for Hotch, but he was very seriously taken. Emily didn't want to think about what he and Spencer had been doing over the last day before they had met the team for dinner, as she knew very well they had probably spent at least most of it in bed. She had mostly gotten over her crush on her boss and she didn't want to admit even to herself that she was falling for David Rossi in a big way. The two of them had been spending a lot of time together and he had even managed to teach her how to cook simple things, which she had thought had been impossible, but then Rossi had made the lessons more interesting then the food network ever did, so now she could prepare several simple dishes, although she would never be the cook Rossi was. However, she was being very cautious here for Rossi was a known ladies man and she didn't want to be just another of his conquests.

"It is," JJ said, not mentioning, that Spencer supplied her with a potion that took all her pain away for a few hours, since there was one person present that wasn't in on Spencer's and Garcia's secret.

However, she was grateful, that she'd had some left from last time since Spencer couldn't supply any since he had been at the Academy, and the pain hadn't started getting really bad until she'd been three months along, which made sense, since by that point the babies were more than just tiny embryos, and would be growing and changing daily until they were finally born.

"However, it's worth it, although I've already told Dario that I'm having my tubes tied after this, so that I won't risk getting pregnant again, as I think either nine or ten small babies is more than enough."

"Yes, I have to agree," Garcia said with a nod. "I was lucky that I only had to get pregnant twice to have mine and Derek's eight cubs."

Hotch smirked at this conversation, but didn't comment, as now was not the time to bring up his and Spencer's children, not in a public place. He couldn't help thinking though, that he and Spencer had topped them all with 22, three of those pregnancies being sextuplets and he couldn't help feeling a little smug that he had gotten his mate pregnant with six babies three different times. They would've had more to, if Spencer hadn't decided to go to the FBI Academy, but once he did Hotch knew that Spencer's babymaking days were officially over, but that was fine, because they had nearly 25 children from only four different pregnancies before they were done and that was more than even his parents had had. Of course, the difference was that he and his siblings hadn't been born because his parents loved each other or pups, they had been born simply because his father thought it was a wife's duty to give birth to as many pups as possible, even if it wasn't what his mother had wanted.

He and Spencer on the other hand, had made the decision together, to have so many pups and had been planning on having more before that idea was derailed, when Spencer decided to enter the FBI Academy and that was the difference, the difference being that he and Spencer made decisions together and he never ordered his mate to do anything, or treated him like a third class citizen, like his father had used to do to his mother. To his father his mother wasn't good for anything, except bearing him pups and keeping house, so was it any wonder his mother had been so bitter by the time he was old enough to understand that's what she was? He'd treated her worse than dirt and didn't bother to ask for her opinion, and if she bothered to give it he ignored it.

Hotch had never been happier when he and Haley had divorced and he almost wished that his mother had divorced his father as well before he had died, but he knew that things had been different in that time when his parents had married, and divorce wasn't an option that most high society families considered back in those days, no matter how unhappy a person was, as you were often shunned if you dared do such a thing, as it was considered a major sin so long ago. Hotch wouldn't be surprised if his mother really had poisoned his father, like Spencer had suggested years ago, and if she really had Hotch had to admit that his father deserved it. Of course, it was also very possible that his father has simply had a heart attack, induced by stress or guilt or overwork or all three and not by some foreign agent.

Hotch well knew that his grandfather on his father's side had likely been same, not that that excused his father or anything, but it would at least explain why he had been like he was.

All the team continued to chat, and eat their dinners, which were superb as was to be expected in such a fine, expensive restaurant and by the time the pleasant company finally broke up it was nearly closing time.

"Thank you for this, Dave," Spencer told his older friend and the man he considered a second father as Rossi paid the check with his credit card.

"You're more than welcome," Rossi said patting Spencer on the back. "I'll see you and Aaron at work on Monday," he added with the wink, knowing very well that the two of them would probably head straight home and make love until they had to report to the BAU on Monday.

"Goodbye, Spence, I'll see you at work on Monday," JJ told her friend kissing her cheek.

"I'm looking forward to working with you," Reid told his friend, giving her a hug of goodbye.

"I'll see you at the BAU, day after tomorrow," Emily said by way of saying goodbye.

"See you, Emily," Spencer said.

Morgan simply slapped his friend on the back while Garcia hugged him tightly in farewell and Ryan shook his and Hotch's hand.

"Let's go home," Spencer said, as the last of the team walked out of the door to the private room, heading for the main entrance.

"Yes, let's go home," Hotch repeated, slinging an arm around his mate's waist as the two of them headed for the main door of the restaurant and their car.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	16. Chapter 16

"Welcome to the BAU!" Hotch said, as he escorted his mate out of the elevator.

"Welcome, Spence," JJ said coming from across the bullpen to give him a kiss on the cheek and a hug. "I'm going to enjoy working with you."

"It's not like I've never been here before," Spencer pointed out logically to his mate and to JJ.

"Yes, but that was as a guest, not as a member of this unit," Hotch pointed out and JJ nodded in agreement.

It was first thing Monday morning about 8 o'clock when Hotch and Spencer walked off the elevator and into the BAU for the first time together.

"You're right it is different," Spencer said looking around, at the familiar setup of the bullpen and at his mate's office, which was on the other side of the teams desks and up a couple steps with JJ's office right next door and Rossi's next to JJ's.

"There's a free desk over by Morgan's and that one will be yours," Hotch said.

"All right," Spencer said.

"You need to go see Strauss in her office down the hallway there," Hotch said pointing his mate in the proper direction.

"Oh, joy," Spencer said sarcastically, causing JJ to grin at her friend's rather sarcastic tone.

"Yes, it's not something to look forward to," JJ said. "You had better go get it over with though and it's likely you'll only rarely see her after that."

"I know," Spencer told JJ and his mate.

"I'll see you at lunch," Hotch told Spencer who nodded, taking a deep breath.

"All right," Spencer said taking another deep breath.

"You can tell me how it went with Strauss at lunch," Hotch said.

Spencer nodded looking determined and Hotch knew that his mate would be okay.

The two men shared a look that was filled with tenderness, before Hotch strode briskly towards his office.

"Will you be okay, Spence?" asked JJ.

"I'll be fine, JJ," Spencer promised his friend giving her a hug. "Why don't you go get off your feet, you are pregnant with quadruplets after all."

"Alright, I certainly won't say no," JJ said heading back towards her office immediately.

Spencer took yet another deep breath and then headed towards, where Aaron had indicated Strauss's office to be and he found it without any trouble. Spencer squared his shoulders and then firmly knocked on the door.

"Come in," Strauss's voice called.

Spencer opened the door and entered Strauss's office. "You wanted to see me section chief Strauss?" Spencer asked his expression and tone of voice set to neutrality.

Strauss looked at him, a mask over her face to hide the emotions she was feeling.

Why oh why had Spencer Reid had to decide to join the FBI? It had been hard enough to ignore a happy Aaron Hotchner for the last 11 years and then out of the blue, she had learned that Hotchner's mate, if you believed Shifters had mates, had also decided to join the FBI. At least she had only had to put up with Hotchner, but now she was going to have to try to get along with both of them. She had always been of the philosophy out of sight out of mind, and since she rarely saw Aaron Hotchner's mate she had rarely thought of him. However, that was no longer going to be possible, since he was now going to be a constant presence in the bullpen. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about it, because not only had he passed the Academy training and with the highest scores ever recorded when it came to the academic work, the director had stepped in and told her, that they were going to give Aaron Hotchner and Spencer Reid a chance, to work together and see if things worked out. If after a year they had worked together smoothly with no friction and acted professionally while doing so and so long as they could maintain their professionalism they would be allowed to work together permanently.

Strauss had no doubt that would be the case, because she was sure that Hotchner had already had this discussion with the man he was married to and also she knew Reid was no dummy and had probably already figured out what Hotchner was going to say before he'd said it and assured him that he would he act professionally while they were working.

The thought of her enemy working with the man he was married to and also had sex with on a regular basis turned her stomach, but she had no choice in the matter unless she wanted to find herself out of a job, so for now she would watch, observe and toe the line.

She had been warned to do nothing unless either one of them did something that was insubordinate or something that was a major infraction of the rules and Strauss knew Hotchner well enough to know he would never give her anything that she could officially rip into him for that would leave a second black mark on his record permanently and he would make sure that his partner didn't either.

The FBI could be a minefield and Strauss knew that her enemy would help the BAU's newest agent navigate through it if he needed it, which she doubted he would.

"Yes, Dr. Reid," Strauss said. "I just wanted to congratulate you for completing the FBI training and to let you know that your instructors at the Academy expect great things from you in the near future."

"I'll do my best, ma'am," Spencer answered politely while on the inside he was laughing, because he could tell that Strauss did not want to welcome him into her unit, but that she had been given absolutely no choice whatsoever. Spencer kept his expression neutral, not letting the emotion he was feeling show on his face, but he was going to take great delight in recounting this scene later to his mate and probably the rest of the team to. If Erin Strauss wasn't such a bitter, hard to get along with, could hold onto a grudge until judgment day person, he wouldn't take such great delight in torturing her just a little, even if she didn't realize it for hours. He was going to be like the pebble in the shoe that you tried to remove and that just kept coming back to irritate you. Normally, he, Spencer Reid wouldn't take such great delight in torturing someone, even mentally, but in this case however, he was willing to make an exception and refused to feel guilty about it mainly because of all the trouble Strauss had caused the man he adored. Sure Strauss was against same-sex relationships, but Spencer wouldn't torture her for that, simply because a lot of people were, so it wasn't exactly an uncommon theme. No, he would torture her very subtly simply because she was a bitch, bitter and hateful, one who had caused his mate and his friends no end of trouble when they got called into her office. Although that was mostly Aaron, Spencer admitted silently. Aaron had one official black mark on his record, because Strauss had thought that he had handled a situation a few years ago, wrongly and a teenage girl and several other people had gotten killed. Aaron had told him all about the situation and Spencer believed that he and the team had made the right decision at the time. Of course, Strauss disagreed, and Spencer thought that it was stupid to have someone as section chief who had never been a field agent, because someone who had been out in the field would have seen the situation entirely differently, and it was likely that his mate wouldn't have that one black mark on his perfect record. He knew that Aaron felt guilty, for what had happened on that college campus, but also knew that it had turned out, as good as could be expected.

"Thank you, ma'am," Reid said politely.

"Your grades are the highest ones ever recorded in academic portion of the training," Strauss continued trying her best for a polite neutral tone of voice.

"So I was told by my instructors, ma'am," Spencer told Strauss politely.

"I believe you'll be a great asset to the BAU, for no other agent has six different degrees," Strauss said. "This is quite an accomplishment for one so young, but I also understand that your IQ is 198 so maybe it isn't so surprising."

"No, ma'am," Spencer answered, "it isn't really surprising that I find academic work so easy, since my mother was also incredibly intelligent as was my father. I was surprised at the level of my IQ when the instructors tested me, as I had no idea what it was, just that I found anything having to do with academic tests incredibly easy."

Strauss hated to admit it even to herself, but Spencer Reid was incredibly polite, even though she knew he hated her guts and with reason to do so.

"You and Agent Hotchner will be watched closely for the next year and the two of you will be evaluated after that. So long as you can work smoothly with Agent Hotchner and act professionally while working you will be allowed to remain on the same team. Is that understood Agent Reid?"

"Yes, ma'am," Spencer answered politely just preventing himself from rolling his eyes at the woman who was now his superior, because that probably would've gotten him written up for insubordination on his very first day and he would never give the woman in front of him the pleasure of being able to do that and then have her gloat about it.

"You may go," Strauss said and Spencer was immediately out of his chair, walking the few steps to the door.

Spencer opened the door and once was it was closed behind him stood outside of it and heard Strauss grind her teeth.

Well, Spencer thought with a grin, You didn't like having to welcome me to the unit or being polite to me, did you Chief Strauss? I hope it stuck in your craw to be unable to do anything about Aaron and I being on the same team, you bitch. I hope it continues to give you sleepless nights and that your nightmares are horrific, maybe then you will realize that being so bitter and hateful is only going to bring you pain and unhappiness.

Spencer walked back into the bullpen and found the entire team, except Aaron who was in his office waiting on him.

"So how did it go?" asked Morgan immediately

"It went fine," Spencer assured everyone with a smile. "I'll tell you all about it over lunch, on me."

Spencer's unspoken message came through loud and clear. This was not the place to discuss it.

"We just wanted to make sure you escaped from Strauss's office unscathed," Garcia said coming forward and giving her baby a hug

"I'm fine," Spencer told her as well as everyone else. "Now if you don't mind I need head to Hotch's office to let him know I came out Strauss's office whole. as you on know how he'll worry until he sees me."

"I never imagined that Hotch could be such a worrywart," Ryan said slapping Spencer on the back.

"He is about the people he cares about and loves," Spencer told them. "Besides, you're a Shifter and you know very well what would happen to him if he lost me, so of course, he worries. However, he knows I can handle most any situation by myself and so tries to stay out of the way and let me handle it, but he's always there if I need him to be."

"And that's the way it should be," Rossi said. "Whether you're Aaron's mate or not he should let you handle your own problems unless he's asked for advice or to help out. No one and I don't care if a couple are married or are True Mates, has a right to try to handle anybody else's problems for them, while pushing them aside as that's not marriage that's a person trying to control another and someone who has no faith in their spouse to be able to handle their own problems. Yes, you handle problems together when you're married or even if you are just dating, and that's the key word 'together'. You should always be able to go to your spouse and talk about any problems calmly, without them going into overprotective mode and trying to handle your problems for you."

"Yes, I agree," Emily said with a nod. "A marriage is a partnership, it's about finding comfort in another person, putting up with another persons faults, even though they annoy the hell out of you sometimes and about loving someone despite all the little problems that can pop up over the years they are together."

Emily looked directly at Rossi and a message seemed to pass between then, causing Rossi to stand up straighter and nearly smile for he knew that Emily's words had been at least partly for him.

He had been trying to convince Emily to marry him and that they were perfect for each other, but Emily had been resisting the idea up until now. He couldn't really blame her since her mother had gotten divorced when she was a child and so she didn't exactly have a good idea of what it was really like to coexist happily with another person, to have arguments and then make up afterwards, to always love someone despite the boulders that life often threw in your path. If you truly loved someone you didn't leave them just because there was a little friction from time to time. What you did was have patience and understanding and work through whatever problems there were together as a couple. You couldn't just leave or cheat on a person just because you were going through a rough patch and had to be willing to work through that friction together to make a better marriage. Despite what some people thought marriages were not just about playtime and the reason so many ended in divorce was because one spouse ignored the other and weren't willing to work out any problems or didn't see that the other was unhappy because they were always working or because one of them had cheated. Marriage was about balance, balancing work, play and everything else that a marriage involved. Marriage was about compromise and one spouse giving into the other sometimes, instead of one demanding that it always had to be their way and a lot of people just weren't willing to do that, which was again why so many marriages broke up. Marriage was about trust, trusting that their spouse would always be loyal to them and never cheat by having affairs.

That's why Rossi thought that Aaron's and Spencer's relationship worked so well, because they trusted each other to never cheat, to always be loyal to who they were as a couple. Rossi knew that it was impossible for his two friends to cheat because of the bond, but he truly believed, even if the two men he considered sons hadn't had a Shifter True Mate Bond and they had still gotten together, that they would have made their relationship work, simply because they were willing to listen to each other and help out where they could with any problems, but also willing to let their spouse work it out on their own and wait until one of them and asked for help with whatever they were having trouble with, even if it wasn't easy for Aaron in particular. The two discussed options, like when Spencer had decided to go to the FBI Academy, he hadn't done it behind Aaron's back, he had instead mentioned it to him and the two had discussed it calmly and then decided to go ahead with it. Rossi knew exactly how tough being separated was on Aaron and he could assume logically that it had been the same for Spencer as well, even though he wasn't a shifter himself. Rossi knew that it hadn't been easy for either Aaron or Spencer to be separated for so long, but they had done it because they knew they would be together more then they had been for ten years, once Spencer completed training and now that day had arrived.

Rossi knew that Emily was giving him a silent signal and that she was saying she was willing to discuss marriage, unlike a few months previously and he believed that Spencer and Aaron were responsible for her change of attitude, even if the two men in question never realized it.

Rossi had known that he was in love with Emily Prentiss for a couple of years now and he had tried to convince her to marry him, but at that time Emily had been unwilling to discuss it, even though Rossi had known that the woman he adored loved him to, she just hadn't realized it yet. Now she apparently had and Rossi was so excited and happy that he was having trouble just standing there calmly, instead of taking the woman he loved into his arms and kissing her senseless, but somehow he managed.

The rest of the team continued talking while Reid walked towards his mate's office to let him know that he had gotten through the meeting unscathed.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Two months later

"Welcome, Ryan!" Spencer greeted his friend, opening the door before Matthews could ring the bell for a second time. "Come right on in, dinner is almost ready."

"Thank you for inviting me," Ryan said, as he and Spencer shook hands.

"You're more than welcome," Spencer assured his friend. "You're the only one that's only been over here maybe half a dozen times in the last five years."

"Welcome to our home," Hotch said striding out of the living room to greet his teammate.

"Thank you for inviting me, although I'm curious as to why?" Ryan said.

"Well, I just feel that I don't know you as well as I know the others," Spencer explained. "I know Aaron and I have been busy, for a long time now, what with me deciding to enter the FBI Academy, and before that where we were taking care of our children. We've just been so involved in our own lives that we haven't had time to really get to know each other and it doesn't help that Aaron's gone for a work a lot and when he's home let's just say that we tend to shut everybody else out."

Ryan blushed deeply, because he knew exactly what Spencer was trying to say without having to have it spelled out to him.

"The two of us are working together now and so I just felt that it would be a good thing if we got to know each other better than we do," Spencer explained.

"Why don't you come into the living room," Hotch offered. "We can talk more comfortably in there instead of standing in the entryway."

Ryan nodded and followed his boss and his friend into the living room and took a seat when he was told to get comfortable. He, Ryan Matthews was normally a pretty easygoing guy, but that didn't mean he was stupid or unobservant, just that he preferred, to observe other people rather than participate in conversations, unless asked a direct question. He knew there was something behind the offer of dinner, when Hotch had asked him if he was free to come to dinner just yesterday, right before the team was headed home for the weekend, since they hadn't been called on a case, or already been out of town in the middle of one.

"Hope you like pork chops, with rice and green beans," Spencer said, "as Aaron and I didn't do anything fancy tonight."

"That sounds heavenly, especially since I can't cook to save my life and I eat out a lot," Ryan said.

"You sound like Emily was before Dave took her under his wing," Hotch said. "Most people can learn to cook, if they just take the time. I for one am happy to come home to a homecooked meal after eating out all the time when we're on a case. I didn't really know much about cooking either, until Spencer taught me."

"And he's become very good at it," Spencer complimented. "The two of us like to cook together on the weekends when we're home and sometimes during the week to if we're were not too tired after work."

Ryan envied his boss and his new teammate their closeness, but then he realized that they had been mated for years before he'd ever joined the team, so it was understandable, but still he wished he could find his True Mate, and maybe he would one day. He had more of a chance actually since he traveled all over the United States for his job and a Shifter could tell if they were within 100 miles of them, but so far he'd had no luck. Perhaps, one day...

Spencer and Hotch continued to talk to Ryan whom they knew was nervous, for he had never been in their home and in the presence of his boss by himself before. They both knew that he would relax once he saw Hotch out of the work environment, since he was much more relaxed at home then he was at work, less intense.

The timer buzzed and Hotch rose to get his pork chops out of the oven and to turn off the timer and the oven itself.

"Let's head to the table," Spencer told Ryan who nodded.

The two men washed their hands in the bathroom and then headed to the kitchen, where they would be eating since there was only three of them.

The kitchen table looked huge considering there was only three of them sitting at it.

"So..." Ryan began. "How long has this house been in your family?"

"How do you know I just didn't buy it?" Spencer asked with twinkling golden brown eyes.

"Well, for one thing, the furniture is antique, although obviously well cared for. You can't find Chippendale, or Hepplewhite or Moore furniture anymore, unless you are really lucky and find it at an auction or a flea market or an estate sale, since they've been dead for centuries. I noticed the first time I entered this house that the furniture was obviously antique, I just never said anything about it. I can't see anybody owning this house and leaving all this furniture that's worth a great deal of money behind. Besides, nobody owns a house this big anymore, because it would be impossible to maintain unless you had a great deal of money."

"Alright, you are of course, correct," Spencer admitted with a smile, surprised that Ryan could identify the furniture since not many people knew who Hepplewhite or Chippendale or Moore were anymore. "In any case, to answer your question this house has been in my family for generations, although I'm not exactly sure how long, but at least 400 years. It has of course, been modernized and updated since then. Electricity was added about 150 years ago and the kitchen was updated within the last 30 years. I didn't see really any point of getting another place when this one was already paid for and belonged to my parents before they died, which I of course, inherited since I was the oldest. It turned out to be just as well…" Spencer said with a shrug. "This is where I brought my siblings after we had lost our parents. We needed somewhere familiar, but didn't have our parents things in every room. Me and my siblings grew up Las Vegas originally and luckily, when my dad committed suicide after my mother's death in a car crash, I was already nearly 18. All of us decided together that we needed a change especially for my then seven year old twin brother and sister, as they weren't doing too well, being surrounded by mom's and dad's things every day. Bringing them here was the right decision, because this house was familiar since we spent a lot of time here in the summers and yet it didn't hold our parents things in nearly every room nor di it have as many memories of them."

"It's okay, to grieve for someone you love, but not to grieve too deeply or for too long for then you can be lost in it," Ryan said.

"Exactly," Spencer agreed, seeing that Ryan did understanding wondering who he had lost. "You're speaking from experience."

"I lost a sister," Ryan explained quietly. "She snuck out in the middle the night, and when mom checked her room in the morning there was no sign of her, except for an open window. Mom, of course, reported her missing to the police but they said we had to wait 48 hours and it didn't matter that she was a minor. By the time those 48 hours were up, she was already dead, having been torn to pieces by a pack of real wolves. Her body wasn't discovered, for a week, but when it was there was very little left, and she was only identified by the necklace she always wore, that I had given her for her birthday several years ago and also by her dental records. She was only 15 years old."

"And how old were you?" asked Hotch quietly, for he had not known this about the quiet, good-natured man who had joined his team five years ago.

"Just 17," Ryan answered lost in memories. "We all grieved and I believe that if only the cops had started looking for her sooner they might've found her alive. Hey, twin brother, was torn up more than the rest of us, which is understandable considering that twins usually share some kind of mystical connection. Ian knew that his twin Kristian was dead, but he had no way of proving it, since most cops don't believe that a lot of twins have an almost psychic connection to each other and know when they are in danger so long as they aren't to far away."

"I'm sorry about what happened to your sister," Hotch told him.

"Thank you," Ryan said gratefully. "It was almost 18 years ago now and I've mostly gotten over my grief, but I shall never forget. It's one of the reasons I wanted to join the FBI, so I could help prevent such occurrences in other families."

"We're not meant to forget losing ones we loved as that would mean their lives had very little meaning," Spencer said quietly. "I still miss my parents, although I don't think about them half as often as I used to when they first passed away, but every once in awhile something will remind me of one or both of them. If they were still here both of them would've told me that I need to quit grieving and get on with my life, so I have and so have my siblings."

"So how do you keep this whole house clean?" asked Ryan changing the subject deliberately.

"Most of the rooms remain closed up until we need them and are cleaned and dusted throughly when they are," Spencer answered grateful for the change in subject. "As for money lets just say that the Potters, which was my mother's maiden name were one of the few that didn't lose their cash in the stock market crash of 29, so unlike so many others we weren't made destitute. I wouldn't really need to work at all if I wouldn't be bored out of my skull, as my mind needs to be active and while research is all well and good, it isn't enough to keep my brain occupied."

"According to the FBI instructors at the Academy his IQ hovers right around 200 and that will only increase the more he reads and absorbs," Hotch said. "If he had gone into the Academy at 23 which, because as you know that is the youngest they accept applicants, his IQ might've been a few points lower, but not that much."

"Whoah! I knew you were intelligent Spencer, but I had no idea you were that intelligent!"

"Yes, the instructions at the Academy said they had never seen anyone pass all the academic tests so fast," Hotch smirked. "Most of them didn't even take him an hour and we both know from experience how tough those tests can be."

Spencer blushed, but said nothing.

The three of them enjoyed dinner keeping the conversation light as they ate.

"So are you ready for dessert or would you like to let the meal settle first?" asked Spencer.

"I'd like to wait awhile," Ryan decided patting his stomach. "You are both good cooks and I enjoyed every dish. I haven't had a meal like this in a long time, really not since I last visited my parents."

"You're welcome," Hotch said, glad to see that his subordinate had cheered up after telling that sad story about his sister, which sounded like death by misadventure. Ryan's sister Kristian had probably been sneaking out to meet her boyfriend and had gotten lost in the dark. There were a lot of woods out in Ireland right in peoples backyards so it was very possible that Ryan's sister had been going to meet someone and had the unfortunate luck to run into a pack of real wolves who would have torn a 15 year old girl to pieces in seconds and not given her time to transform into her wolf shape, especially if she was panicking and not thinking straight at the time.

"Let's go into the living room Aaron and I will clean up later," Spencer offered.

"I should help you clean up," Ryan protested. "It's only right after you fed me such a terrific meal."

"You're our guest," Hotch told Ryan sternly. "Guests, don't do the clean up, not in our house."

Matthews nodded and headed into the living room with Spencer and Hotch following.

"So I know that you suspect there's another reason that we invited you for dinner," Hotch began. "Well, other than the reasons we gave you when you first arrived."

"I thought it was kind of...odd that you suddenly invited me to dinner out of the blue, especially since the rest of the team wasn't also invited. The explanation you gave me when I arrived sounded true, but not like the whole reason," Ryan said quietly.

"Well, Spencer and I wanted to talk to you," Hotch began to explain. "There's something that amounts to a family secret that we wanted to reveal to you and have been meaning to for sometime, since the rest of the team already knows."

"Why tell me or the team for that matter since if it's a family secret?" asked Ryan.

"Because we consider you part of our family and the rest of the team to of course," Spencer explained speaking for the first time, trying not to fidget nervously. "Besides, I'm sure you're going to notice some odd things about me now that we're working together and so Aaron and I decided together it was time."

"We should have told you this quite a long time ago, once I had worked with you long enough to know that you were trustworthy and can keep a secret," Hotch said. "If we tell you this you must swear to never reveal what were going to say and you can consider what we're going to tell you under the heading of national security, if that will let you know how important Spencer and I consider this secret."

"This secret isn't dangerous," Spencer promised Ryan. "It's just a very private thing that not too many people need to know about."

"Alright then, I give you my word I won't say anything to anybody who is not in know," Ryan promised.

"And also not in a public place or where other people could possibly overhear you," Hotch added.

Ryan added that to his promise for it made sense.

"You originally come from Ireland," Spencer began, "even if you have dual citizenship and chose to join the FBI. You grew up in a land that is filled with unusual things and legends of leprechaun, kelpies, selkies and pookas."

Ryan immediately knew where this was going. None of the rest of the team knew it, but his family had had witches and wizards born into it for generations, but unlike in some families sometimes the magic didn't get passed down from parent to child and unfortunately, he had been one of the ones that it had passed by, although several of his brothers and sisters had gotten it.

"I know exactly where this is going," Ryan told the two men quietly.

"You do?" asked Spencer in astonishment.

"Yes, you're mentioning magical creatures that most people dismiss as nothing more than myths was my biggest clue," Ryan said, "and no boss I have not been holding out on you, because I didn't inherit the magical ability, although several of my brothers and sisters did. It's always been rather hit and miss in my family, as the magic doesn't seem to run as strong in the Matthews bloodline as it does in others."

"Yes, that's exactly what we were getting at," Hotch said proud of Ryan for coming out and saying the word magical, without even blinking or looking like he would be disbelieved. He had also made a leap of logic that most people wouldn't have, but considering his background Hotch supposed that wasn't really too surprising.

"So I've known you for five years and I never know that you were magical," Ryan said looking at his friend. "In the five years I've known you I've never seen you pull a wand."

"That's because I mostly don't need one," Spencer admitted with a shrug. "I do have one in an invisible holster on my arm, but I very rarely have to use it, unless I'm trying to cast a spell that's really complicated. I've always been good at wandless magic, and I've gotten plenty of practice over the years since I mingle with muggles far more then some of the magical folks do and I did even before Aaron and I met."

"You must be a muggle-born or maybe a half-blood," Ryan guessed and Spencer nodded.

"Half-blood actually, since my father was a complete muggle and my mother was a witch," Spencer said. "However, my family has always mingled more with muggles as I said more then most of us do and so I knew much more about the muggle world even as a child and so did my seven siblings. The Potters used to be as pureblooded as they came, but mostly we're half-bloods now. On the other hand, that's what's kept our family magic from deteriorating, as marrying your cousin no matter how distant eventually has that effect, even if it doesn't happen for centuries. In any case, a wand doesn't register on a metal detector since it is made out of wood for the most part, so I even take it into work with me just in case I need it for something. That's rather unlikely I'll admit, but you never know."

"I now understand why you made me swear to never tell another living soul, unless they already do know," Ryan said. "The laws are pretty strict at least in England, Scotland and Ireland about revealing magic to muggles unless they are either members of your immediate family, or you're going to marry one."

"The laws are pretty strict in America to," Spencer admitted. "However, I would never tell anyone that I didn't trust like you or the rest of the team as whether they have magic or not they are completely trustworthy and will never reveal what they have been told. If they can keep secrets for the sake of national security, then they can keep the secret that magic really does exist. Besides, if I'm wrong I can always do a Confundus or memory charm, whichever one is appropriate to the situation. I have no plans to tell anybody else since I told JJ's husband at her request a couple of years after they were married, although I didn't tell him right away and had to make sure that he was trustworthy first."

"We really should have told you much sooner," Hotch told Ryan, "But well life just got so busy..."

"Believe me, I understand," Ryan said with a smile. "I know my quiet ways make people forget about me a lot of the time, but if you had ever known me as a child you would have seen what I hellion I really was."

"You changed after the death of your sister," Spencer said with certainty and Ryan nodded.

"I did," Ryan admitted. "We were close, but then we were pretty close in age along with Ian, so that's not really surprising. I nearly drowned in my grief, but it was Father Mark O'Leary, that pulled me out of it and told me that Kristian wouldn't want me to drown in grief and want me to make something of my life. I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do for a career, until I went to college in New York at Columbia and saw David Rossi promoting one of his books. I knew then that was a way to honor my sister's memory and something she would have approved of. I signed up for the criminology course the next semester and I knew I had found my true calling after the first class and I owe it all to Kristian who would have wanted me to get on with my life and make something of myself."

"I'm sure she's watching over you from heaven," Hotch said.

"I like to think so," Ryan said fingering a celtic cross on a long golden chain, while the cross itself was silver.

Both Hotch and Spencer figured out immediately that this was the necklace that had belonged to Ryan's sister and that he had kept it as a keepsake and reminder of the sister he had lost.

"Thank you for telling me that you were a wizard as I know that means you trust me," said Ryan finally seeming to come out of his melancholy thoughts. "I will never betray that trust either."

"We know," Hotch told his subordinate with a half smile. "Neither Spencer or I ever would have told you if we didn't already know that."

"So do you have, any siblings that were born at the same time or are you a single birth like Aaron and I?" asked Spencer curiously. "You don't necessarily have to tell me if you got to keep it private I'm just curious."

Hotch knew that Ryan was one of the triplets thanks to his personal file and that he had several other brothers and sisters, but he had never revealed that Spencer, since it wasn't his place.

"It's not really a secret or anything, so no I was not a single birth and am one of the fraternal triplets," Ryan explained. "I have another brother and a sister that were born at the same time I was and we were only minutes apart from each other. Unlike what's usual in this decade we were all born naturally without a c-section, as back when I was born those were only done in an emergency. I am the youngest while my other brother is the oldest and my sister is in the middle, but since there are only minutes between us that doesn't really matter."

"Any single birthings in your family or is it all multiples?" Spencer asked. "Aaron is the only single birth in his and he's the oldest and the rest of his siblings are all multiples of one sort or another."

"I have a single brother, in the middle of the rest of my siblings," Ryan said, "but other than Leo no."

"So how many siblings do you have?" asked Spencer next.

"Well, besides, my five other siblings that have already mentioned, one of whom as I said is dead I have four more, but in this case quadruplets, three sisters and a brother."

"Well, 10 is pretty average in a Shifter family," Spencer said and Ryan nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it is," Ryan and Hotch agreed at the same time causing Spencer to chuckle.

"So are you ready for desert?" asked Spencer after a moment. "I made an apple pie and I have vanilla ice cream in the fridge."

"Yes, if you don't mind," Ryan said. "After dessert though I really need to get going back home."

Ryan didn't say so, but he was thinking that his boss and his mate likely needed time alone before they had to go into work on Monday and so he was intending to provide that by leaving. The two had been mated for over 11 years and yet they were still extremely close even for True Mates, and Ryan thought he knew the reason why. The reason he believed that Aaron Hotchner and Spencer Reid were so close, emotionally and mentally and why they were always touching in some way when they were together, even if that was just their legs through the fabric of their pants, so Ryan suspected that they were especially well suited as mates. Both were intelligent men, shared a lot of similar interests and they probably discussed everything keeping no secrets from each other, like some mates did. Of course, they were also both observant and could read each other extremely well, almost like reading the others thoughts, but really all it was was reading facial expressions and body language, just like they did in the BAU. In other words, they knew each other inside and out and where their hearts truly belonged. True Mates were always close, that was a given, however, some were closer than others depending on personalities and Ryan had to admit that his boss and his friend Spencer were the closest True Mates he had ever had the privilege to get to know.

Spencer returned with three plates of apple pie with ice cream on top and all three of them ate with obvious pleasure, while they continued to chat with each other.

"I need to be getting home," Ryan said once his slice of apple pie and vanilla ice cream were gone.

"We'll see you at the BAU on Monday," Hotch said.

"See you Monday," Ryan acknowledged and after putting his plate in the sink in the kitchen both Hotch and Spencer escorted their teammate to the front door and showed him out.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Well, that went differently than I expected," Spencer said, as soon as Ryan was gone.

"Yes, he took me by surprise," Hotch admitted, taking his mate into his arms and holding him close like he had been wanting to do all evening, but had not due to Ryan's presence, "but then he is as you said Irish and they believe more in the mystical and magical, then most other people do. I was surprised that magic runs in his family, although apparently not strongly enough that all the Matthews children Ryan included got it, like you and all your siblings did."

"He didn't say exactly how many got the talent, but I would estimate probably about half, since that's the usual percentage, although not always of course, and it also depends on how many children a family has. Unless Ryan tells me differently I'm going to assume that five of his siblings got it and that it skipped the other half including him, though it's very possible that they all got it except for Ryan or that only one or two did. Since all his siblings are fraternal one or two could've ended up with the magic ability while the others didn't. Now if they were identical, if one got magic then they should all get it."

"At least next time the team is invited to our place where the subject of magic is bound to come up he won't have to be excluded," Hotch said.

"And that's a good thing," Spencer agreed immediately. "You know I like Ryan and I think I might just introduce him to my sister Leah as she's the only one that's around his age that's unattached."

"So when is your sister coming home for a visit?" Hotch asked.

Leah was at the moment touring Europe and last the two of them had heard she was in Italy and enjoying herself.

"She'll be here for Christmas in a couple of weeks, and so will the rest of the family," said Spencer. "I really wish she'd settle down, get a job, but I suppose I can't really blame her for not wanting to be here in the States at the moment since her breakup with Conrad hit her rather hard."

His sister and Conrad Morrison had dated all through, the last two years of school and several years after that, but finally Conrad has broken it off and told Leah that he had met someone and that it was over. Leah was now 28, and her breakup with Conrad had happened over five years ago. Leah had genuinely believed that he was on the verge of proposing, only to discover that he had been cheating on her for several years. Spencer knew that she hadn't really had a serious date since, and it had been five years. At the time it happened both Aaron and Spencer had wanted to go teach Conrad a lesson for hurting someone they both loved, but Spencer who was always the calmer of the two, managed to talk his mate down from his position. It wasn't even that he did not agree with Aaron, because he did and was just angry, just that it would cause more problems than it would solve.

"It's not very pleasant to get your heart broken," Hotch said quietly, "and even if it's only bent out of shape it still take some people quite awhile to recover from that. I don't blame Leah either for not wanting to return to the States for any length of time considering that she really thought Conrad and her had something special. To find out that the man you thought loved you and who you thought you loved in return was cheating on you behind your back, well, it is not a pleasant thing to discover."

"Well, at least she got her revenge," Spencer said with a smirk. "She's almost as good at wandless magic as I am and made him impotent for five years, though unfortunately, he should be back to normal by now. Since she did it wandlessly he probably never even realized that she did anything to him and he's probably just wondered why he couldn't get it up. It probably never even occurred to him that Leah would do something like that, because she looks so sweet and innocent on the surface, but really she's also a Potter and that means she has a temper as well, and a thirst for justice and doing the right thing I think impotent for five years was definitely justice."

"Some would consider that revenge," Hotch said, "Not that I do, but some people definitely would."

"If Leah was looking for revenge she would've made that impotence permanent, instead of only lasting five years," Spencer told his mate. "Personally, I think the punishment fit the crime, since he had been cheating on her for at least a couple of years. If Conrad had only been honest from the beginning and broken it off, before he started sleeping around, then Leah might have been temporarily brokenhearted, but she would have understood, and gotten over it much easier, then she is at the moment. She would have likely been though a string of boyfriends, by this point and wouldn't have taken more then a five year sabbatical from dating. Not all men or boys are like that, but unfortunately, a lot of them are slimeballs. I just want to see her happy and to start seriously dating again and get over that fucktard."

"You must really hate Conrad to call him that," Hotch said nearly chuckling for his mate very rarely used such vulgar and foul language and he was usually steaming mad when he did so.

"I don't necessarily hate him," Spencer admitted. "I do think that he's an idiot that could have at least told Leah that his feelings had changed and then broken it off. I'm upset that I misread him so badly and that he cheated on my sister instead of just telling her the truth."

"He seemed like the decent sort, when I met him," Hotch said, "so I don't think you misread him. We don't know what happened to make him change so drastically. He could've lost someone important to him, he could've fallen in with a bad crowd or any of a dozen other things and since we don't really know what happened we shouldn't judge him. Yes, he hurt Leah and I am as upset about that as you are, even after five years, but that's life and you live and learn. We're both protective of your siblings, but you or I can't protect them from everything, as much as both of us might want to. We have to allow Leah and the rest of your siblings to live their lives, which means they might get hurt emotionally sometimes, that's part of being human, whether Normal or magical, or Shifter."

"I know," Spencer said quietly. "I just hate to see my sister hurting so much even after over 5 years. I mean losing our parents was hard enough and that really wasn't all that long ago, about 15 years, give or take, but even after supposedly all that time it still has the power to hurt us."

"Because you loved your parents deeply," Hotch said and Spencer nodded.

"We did, but Leah was especially close to our mother, because in a lot of ways they were very similar, not in looks, but in personality," Spencer said. "I know our mother's death hit her harder than she's ever admitted to anyone, it hurt the rest of us to, just not as much, except of course, for Hudson and Bronwyn, but then they are the youngest, so that's understandable. Leah was old enough to know what death was, but to lose someone you loved so suddenly, especially when she wasn't even middle aged for a magical person was bound to hit her hard."

"We had better cleanup the kitchen," Hotch said rising to his feet.

"And after that?" asked Spencer with mischievousness sparkling in his golden brown eyes

Hotch just chuckled and didn't respond as he knew that his mate knew exactly what they would be doing after they cleaned up the kitchen and that it had been a rhetorical question.

Spencer also chuckled, and admired the way his mate's butt filled out his slacks, before following him into the kitchen to help with cleanup, eager to finish so that they go upstairs and spend an hour or so with the children before they went to their bedroom, to fuck each other senseless for several hours before finally going to sleep.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

December 23rd

Ryan had been invited to spend the day with his boss, his mate and his family and since the team was on call he couldn't go home, so he had been grateful for the offer not looking forward to being alone on Christmas, since it had always been a huge event in his family.

When the team wasn't on call for Christmas he did indeed go home, although that only happened every other year. It was a lot easier for him to go home on Christmas then for his entire family to come to Washington, simply because he didn't have room to put them up and it was also much cheaper for him to fly to Ireland then for all of them to fly here.

In any case, here he was in the middle of this beautiful home that had obviously been decorated lovingly for Christmas, for there was a huge, live Christmas tree over by the fireplace in the living room and it had been decorated from top to bottom, with some of the most amazing Christmas decorations that Ryan had ever seen, some of which were obviously very old, but well cared for and had probably been in Spencer or his boss's family for generations.

"Thank you for inviting me, I really appreciate it," Ryan told his hosts, having brought a small gift of a bottle of wine.

"You're more than welcome Ryan," Hotch told his teammate taking the wine that Ryan had brought and thanking him politely.

"Nobody should be alone on Christmas," Spencer added, "and since we are on call you can't go home and visit your family in Ireland this year."

"It's okay," Ryan said. "I sent my gifts ahead by express mail, so that they'd be there in time for Christmas and my family knows that I love them and that as much as I might want to that I can't be there every year. They understand that my job is something I love doing and I wouldn't give it up anything in the world."

"I can definitely agree with that," Spencer said enthusiastically. "So far I'm loving my job, even if I see some of the worst that humanity can do to each other and not being separated from Aaron for days or a week at a time is just a really great added bonus."

"That I definitely agree with," Hotch said putting an arm around his mate's waist and lovingly kissing the top of his head.

"I can certainly understand that," Ryan said enviously.

"You'll find your True Mate one day," Hotch told the younger man, guessing instantly what Ryan was thinking.

"We both know the likelihood of that," Ryan sighed. "I know I have more of a chance then most simply because I travel all over the United States with the team and Shifters know when our mate is in the same city we are so long as it's within hundred miles. However, for all I know my mate could be back in Ireland where I was born and raised. So many of our kind never find their True Mates, because there are so many people in the world and it is huge. They marry sure, but those marriages aren't as happy or as deeply satisfying as the ones with their other halves."

"Believe me, I understand how you feel," Hotch said kissing the top of his mate's head again. "I once thought the same way you did, but after I had turned 27 and returned from a case, the minute I stepped off the plane I knew that my mate was within a hundred miles, as I could suddenly feel a connection to them that I had never felt before. I knew by some miracle that my mate had moved into either the Washington or Virginia area, because they were the closest States to Quantico, which is technically in Virginia, but still 100 miles as you said a few minutes ago is still a lot of ground, especially since they can be in every direction imaginable. However, feeling that connection gave me hope, that I would find my True Mate, even if a hundred miles in every direction is a lot of ground to cover. I was lucky I know that shortly after my 30th birthday Spencer's sister Liya got herself into a bit of a pickle."

"You actually knew that your mate was within a hundred miles, so you never gave up searching," said Ryan. "That's not true for me unfortunately."

"Have faith," Spencer said, "and it will either happen or it won't, but you have to keep up your faith. You can't just give up."

"I haven't given up," Ryan said, "however, I know I have very little hope of finding the one meant for me and I don't care if they're male or female, Shifter or Normal or magical, I just want to find the one I was meant to be with. I want to be as happy as you two are and I know that even if I do find 'the one' there's no guarantees that I won't be rejected."

"It sounds as if you given up to me," Hotch told his subordinate sternly, but with a distinct twinkle in his eyes that showed he wasn't upset despite his stern tone. "You need to keep a positive attitude that you will find your mate someday. It's okay, to be melancholy occasionally, but to feel like you'll never find them is in my opinion a way of giving up. I was certainly rather melancholy, as I approached my 30th birthday, because I could feel my mate out there, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, or even a needle in a whole field of haystacks. I did feel a faint tugging in one particular direction, so that's the direction I searched the most, when I had free time. However, that's still a lot of to cover, even if you're sure you're mate's in one direction and unfortunately, the pull never gets any stronger or weaker, so you never know if you're getting closer or not, just that you're at least going in the right direction."

"People also move around a lot," Ryan said. "They go to work, the grocery store, the park, and various other places, that makes them harder to locate because of that."

"But most people rarely leave their comfort zone, which is usually around 25 or 30 miles," Hotch said. "They tend to work, play and live their lives within a very limited amount of distance, very rarely leaving their comfort zones. We are creatures of habit, and it doesn't matter if you're a Shifter, or a Normal."

"Or if you're magical," Reid added.

"You're still going to be more relaxed instead of tense or nervous when you are in that zone. People are often afraid of the unknown, which is why there's so much more relaxed and comfortable in their comfort zones."

"It's also why most criminals are easier to catch because they don't like to leave their comfort zones," Spencer added. "However, figuring out what a unsubs comfort zone is, is the hard part."

"Enough talk of work," Hotch finally ordered. "It's Christmas, let's just enjoy the season, shall we?"

"Yes, sir," Spencer said mock saluting.

Hotch mock growled at his mate and took a playful swipe at him and Spencer laughed and avoided the swipe.

"So what are the plans for the holidays?" asked Ryan.

"Well," Spencer began. "Since Aaron and I can't take a vacation this year, since we're on call, we go with Plan B. Usually we pick some location to go for a week to just relax and not worry about work, and leave the children here with Amelia and her assistants, although all of them get a nice Christmas bonus. Unfortunately, we have too many children to take along, as neither of us would relax to much if we were looking after them."

"So it's not only a week off to relax and have fun, it's also a week where we are pup free. We love our children, but Spencer and I, do need time for just the two of us and this was, especially true before Spencer worked at the FBI since we were parted so much because of my job."

Ryan nodded, because he could certainly understand that. If he ever found his mate he was sure that they would need to get away from their children, even if it was only once every couple of years.

"This year though, since we're on call we can't take a vacation," Spencer said, "so plan B is simply do stuff that is normal for the Christmas season. Aaron and I bake a ton of cookies and cakes, and deliver them to the nearest homeless shelter, keeping enough of them to give as gifts for friends and family."

"Oh, yes, I really enjoyed those snickerdoodles that you gave me last year for Christmas," Ryan said. "The store bought brands just aren't the same."

"Of course, not, because they are mass manufactured," Spencer snorted. "They are not home baked, or even fresh by the time you buy and open the package, no matter what the expiration date says. I'm not saying they aren't edible, just that there is a large difference between cookies that are prepackaged and sold in the store to those that are freshly baked. In any case, after that what Aaron and I do, that you're welcome to help us with if you want, is we have a huge Christmas dinner tomorrow and the whole family will be here. We try to do the Christmas dinner on the same day every year, but it can still vary from year to year."

"So you said you whole family going to be here?" asked Ryan.

"All my siblings are supposed to be here," Spencer answered. "I have seven siblings while Aaron has 17, but it will only be mine here this Christmas, because there's bound to be magic going on and none of them knows about the magical world."

"Me and my siblings really don't see each other much, although we do communicate frequently over email and phone calls," Hotch added. "Most of them have their own families and their own Christmas traditions so they couldn't come anyway, because it's expensive to fly especially this time of year."

"Yes, it is as expensive to fly, especially if you need to get more than yourself and maybe one or two others someplace," Ryan agreed. "Even flying coach if you have like 10 children would be damn expensive."

"It's much cheaper to drive, but that takes a long time depending on the distance involved," Spencer commented. "Of course, us wizarding folks have other means of transportation all of which are instantaneous, two of which can be used by muggles or Shifters."

"The Floo network and Portkeys," Ryan said confidently and Spencer nodded in confirmation. "It's how we transported all our children to England two years ago in order to visit a very distant relative of mine. A Portkey would've worked as well if so many of them hadn't been so young at the time and unable to hold onto it."

"So tomorrow we're going to have a full house at least until the new year," Hotch said, "Since a couple of Spencer's siblings are married and have families of their own, we'll be expecting around 20 guests and along with our own children that's around 40 people."

"The ironic thing is, that it's my two youngest sibling who have settled down, and not their older brothers or sisters, but that's just the way life works sometimes. They got married directly after graduation at 17. Both of them already have several children apiece and you'll meet them as soon as they arrive."

"Yes, you all that I have a full house if you count your own pups," Ryan said.

"Who all love Christmas and make quite the mess ripping open presents," Spencer said with a smile as he thought about his and Aaron's children. "Aaron and I always spoil them a lot during the Christmas season and I suppose part of that we are trying to make up for the fact that now we are both gone so much of the time, when before it was just Aaron."

"There's nothing wrong with spoiling them twice a year, on Christmas and their birthdays, but the rest of the time, no we don't spoil them. Besides, a lot of the time their birthdays are late because we're out of town, though before Spencer joined the team it was just me."

"But I always waited for you to come home in order to celebrate our children's birthdays since they are not just mine, but yours as well."

"You know it's been driving me absolutely batty for months now, but how can those children be both of yours biologically?" asked Ryan. "I can't see you using the IVF process or any woman carrying so many babies at one time."

Both Hotch and Spencer smirked, but finally Spencer explained exactly how it happened done.

"Alright, you are telling me that there is magic that will allow a man to get pregnant, and carry a baby or babies to term?" asked Ryan in amazement. "So that's why you tell anyone who asks that it was thanks to the IVF process that you had your family, but that's not true and as I said I can't see a woman agreeing to carrying six embryos at one time, not even a Shifter one, especially not the three different women for the three different sets of sextuplets you had…"

"Actually Aaron and I probably could have convinced a woman or three different ones to do that if we actually had to use IVF process to have our kids, as money works wonders on the unenthusiastic or reluctant and our family has plenty of that. Besides, even if we had actually done it that way there would be no guarantees that all six embryos would have turned into fetuses as a lot of times one or two catches, sometimes three, but not all of them, which is why the doctors that work with the IVF process often implant so many, with the family's permission of course. Nobody ever expects all the embryos that are implanted to actually catch and turn into fetuses and then into babies, but sometimes it does happen. Even though the process has been around since the 70s it's still not perfected, although the doctors success rate nowadays is around 80 to 85%"

"Still, I had no idea that such magic existed but then I realize that I'm not a wizard so how would I have known?"

"It was invented less than twenty years ago," Spencer said. "I'll tell you the story of who created the spells that allow a man to get pregnant and once he's given birth the temporary womb taken away, sometime. It's a fairly new process and I didn't know about it either until I talked to my mentor Addison as I used to work at St. Murphy's, which is the magical hospital in Virginia."

"I'm surprised that you decided to join the FBI then," Ryan said, "Since you had such a good job."

"I'm afraid it got rather stagnant," Spencer explained. "I got tired of having to deal with idiots who had magical accidents just because they were experimenting or because, they didn't cast their spell properly. I don't do well with boredom, so I suppose that my mind is just one of those that needs to be constantly active and being a healer just wasn't cutting it for me anymore. As I've told several other people it was the nice, safe option while my siblings were still so young, Hudson and Bronwyn in particular, but even they are all grown up now, so I didn't see any point in staying in a job that bored me to tears and was becoming rather tedious."

"I for one am glad you made the decision," Hotch said, "because we get to work together now and that means we're together almost all the time. I'm not saying that when you were at the Academy it was easy for either of us, but we got through it and that's all that matters."

"Yes, that's all that matters," Spencer said softly kissing his mate's cheek.

Ryan watched this tender moment feeling rather left out, but also envious and jealous. What he wouldn't give for a relationship like Aaron Hotchner and Spencer Reid had. The two were close, even for mates and that was despite the fact that half of them used to be gone out of town on a regular basis, for days or a week at a time. How he envied his two friends their relationship and wished he had the same closeness with his own mate. Perhaps, someday...

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	17. Chapter 17

December 24th

Ryan arrived at his the Hotchner/Reid house, around noon just as he had been ordered to the day before. Ryan was kind of nervous about meeting Spencer's siblings as he had never met any of them before, if only because he wanted to make a good impression.

Ryan rang the doorbell and it was opened less than a minute later, by a beautiful young woman that only looked four or five years younger than he was and also a lot like Spencer so he assumed that this was one of his friend's sisters.

"You must be Ryan," the woman said with a smile. "My brother said you would be coming since you can't fly back home to see your family this year."

"Yes, I'm Ryan Matthews," Ryan introduced himself, shaking the young woman's hand.

"I'm Liya," The young woman introduced himself. "Why don't you come on in. Most of my siblings aren't here yet, but they should be arriving anytime now."

Liya was a beautiful young woman, Ryan thought. She had long black hair that went several inches past her shoulders, but with her brother's golden brown eyes. She looked a lot like her brother, as she had the shape of his eyes, as well as the color, the shape of his cheekbones, his firm chin, but that was all as she definitely didn't share her brother's height, since she was several inches shorter at 5'4' or 5'5' and while also slim, her brother was much more muscular.

Liya led the way into the large den where everybody was gathered, although the only people there at the moment were Hotch, Spencer, Liya and another young lady, with long brown hair and blue eyes.

"Welcome, welcome," Spencer told his friend with the grin. "Aaron and I are glad you could make it."

"It's not like I had any other plans, except to stay at my apartment and maybe watch some TV," Ryan said.

"I know you just met my sister Liya, but this is her twin Leah."

"I marked you two as sisters, but not twins," Ryan said, "as you look totally different from each other."

Everybody laughed at that as it was an old family joke, that the two sisters couldn't possibly be twins because they looked so different from each other.

"Sorry, but that's kind of an old family joke," Leah explained with a smile that was tinged with just a little bit of sadness and loneliness.

"Both Leah and I have heard that more times than we can remember," Liya explained. "When we tell people we're twins a lot of them look at us as if we're crazy and say that we can't possibly be twins, as we look to different from each other. What a lot of people don't realize is that fraternal twins a lot times don't look very similar to each other even if they're the same sex. Fraternal twins after all come from two different eggs and not from a single egg that has split in two. Some fraternal twins look very similar to each other, and in fact my two brothers could be identical it wasn't for the fact that one has brown eyes and the other blue. Of course, that can be changed with colored contacts or a simple spell, but you understand what I mean, I'm sure. Really fraternal twins are no more related than any other sibling that were born separately, which is about 50%. Now I got my black hair from my grandmother on the Potter side, and Leah got her brown hair from our father, just like Spencer did.

"So your mother didn't have black hair," Ryan asked and all three Reid shook their hands negatively.

"No, our mother was blonde, just like my grandfather," Spencer answered. "Blonde hair is recessive and you need two genes one from each parent in order for it to be that color, so it's not really surprising that none of my siblings got my mother's blonde hair. Also black hair is dominant over every other color with brown being the second most popular, as both only require one gene from one parent in order to be that color. The only thing I'm really surprised about is about half my siblings got my grandmother's black hair while the rest got brown and you would think that most of them would've gotten dad's brown hair. Come to think of it the black hair in my family is only two generation back, so I suppose it isn't so surprising that half my siblings ended up with it after all, especially since it is the dominant hair color and my mother would certainly carry the gene for it and likely my father to."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Leah," Ryan said politely.

"Nice to meet you to, as both my brother and uncle here mention you all the time," Leah answered, thinking that Ryan Matthews was a very handsome man, with golden red hair, that was often called strawberry blonde and vivid green eyes.

Suddenly the fire in the fireplace turned green and a handsome man with brown hair and blue eyes stuck his head out of it. "Oh, good you're home," said the man who didn't look much younger then Leah or Liya.

"Of course, we're home Chance, it's Christmas," Spencer told his brother.

"I thought maybe that you had been called into work," Chance answered. "It has happened before you know."

Spencer grimaced, because his brother was right.

"We would have informed you that was the case," Hotch told the man with a smile. "Why don't you come on through?"

"Alright then, Andrew and I will be there in a minute," Chance said.

"Well, now we only need Natalie, Hudson and Bronwyn to get here and then our little gathering is complete," Spencer said.

True to his word Chance stepped out of the fireplace and into the living room and moved out of the way so that his twin brother could follow, which he did a minute later.

Ryan had watched Chance step out of the fireplace in fascination, for even though he knew it was possible he had never seen the Floo network operating before, as their family hadn't had such a connection.

As soon as Andrew had stepped through the green flames and into the living room Ryan's eyes snapped to him and stared at him his eyes wide as that puzzle piece that signified the mate bond snapped into place.

Hotch and Spencer looked at each other in startlement and genuine astonishment in both their expressions, both knowing exactly what had just happened, even if neither one of them had been expecting it, but then how could you expect something like this?

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Andrew asked the strawberry blonde man.

"Oh, sorry," Ryan said shaking his head as if to clear out the fluff. Ryan seemed to gather himself and then step forward and said, "I'm Ryan Matthews and I work with your brother and Hotch. Both of them were kind enough to invite me for Christmas since I couldn't go home this year."

"Ah, yes, I've heard of you," Andrew said his expression brightening.

Andrew and his brother Chance were very handsome men, both just 26, two years younger than their twin sisters. However, Andrew unlike his brother Chance had never dated very much as he seemed indifferent to girls or women. He had dated a little, while he was in school and since, but he certainly wasn't as prolific as his twin brother or his sister Liya. For one thing he was incredibly shy around the opposite sex much like his oldest brother had been before he had met Aaron Hotchner. He had plenty of female friends, but that was different from actually dating one of them and he tended to get all tongue-tied if he tried to ask some woman out on a date. Besides, he had to admit that he had never had any feelings for any woman beyond those of friendship, even if women drooled over him and tried their best to get him interested in them as more then just friends or causal acquaintances. He certainly wasn't as outgoing as his twin brother at least in that area.

"How come we never met you before now?" asked Chance curiously. "I mean we've met all the other members of the team at one time or another."

"Because until very recently he didn't know about magic," Hotch told Chance and Andrew. "We should have told him some time ago since he's been on the team for over five years, but we just never had the opportunity as every time Spencer and I even seriously considered it I would have to go into work or we'd both get busy."

"As it turns out magic runs in his family and although he didn't get it several of his siblings did," Spencer added. "In any case, come sit down relax and tell us what you've been doing for the last few months since neither one of us have seen either of you very much."

Andrew and Chance, went to sit on the sofa side-by-side and started talking about what they had been involved in with work, what girls they had dated, although that was mostly Chance and what they had been doing in their spare time.

"So you're both enjoying your jobs," Hotch said and both Andrew and Chance nodded enthusiastically.

"I really am," Andrew answered. "I love working at the ministry in New York."

You wouldn't think that the Ministry of Magic would be located in New York and would instead be in Washington, but over 100 year ago now that Ministry had come very close to being discovered where they were located underground beneath the White House, despite the muggle repelling charms as it was possible to get past them if you could just ignore the little voice in your head that told a muggle or Shifter that they were late for some appointment or that you needed to be somewhere else or it felt haunted, depending on the person. Some muggles or Shifters could ignore those voices or feelings though and it had seemed prudent to move the ministry elsewhere just in case and New York had been selected.

"Dating anyone?" asked Spencer having noticed that it had been mostly Chance who had mentioned having several girlfriends, even if none of them had lasted long.

"Not really," Andrew admitted. "I've been so busy with my job that I haven't dated much."

Ryan perked up at that and began to consider how to approach the subject that Spencer's younger brother Andrew was his one True Mate, something he had never expected considering he had just been telling Hotch and Spencer yesterday how the chances of him meeting his mate weren't very good, considering how many people there were in the world and when he had been least expecting it the True Mate Bond had snapped into place like a missing jigsaw piece, the second that Spencer's younger brother had stepped out of the Floo.

He knew that Hotch and Spencer had noticed the way he had acted and had likely immediately figured out the reason for it, but they would not interfere as they knew very well how unhappy a Shifter was without their mate, once they had been found, since Hotch was a Shifter himself and Spencer was his mate.

The only problem he saw was that Andrew might not swing towards his own sex and since he wasn't a Shifter he wouldn't feel like a puzzle piece had snapped into place in his soul and therefore, Andrew wouldn't feel the inevitably of the fact that the two of them were meant to be. He could only hope that Spencer's younger brother would be receptive to his advances and if he wasn't he would probably just quit the BAU and go back to Ireland so that he would have less chance of running into Andrew and live the rest of his very long life alone, despite the fact he loved his job, but there was no way h could stay in the States and chance running into his mate if Andrew rejected him.

He had reason to be worried for the odds of finding two pups in the same family that swung towards their own sex whether that was either completely gay or bisexual were very high indeed. The fact that Andrew hadn't had many girlfriends since he graduated from school didn't really mean anything, except that he was shy when it came to asking out a girl that he liked.

His brother Chance seemed to be the exact opposite and had had a slew of girlfriends in the last few years. Well, he would just have to wait and see, Ryan told himself. He could be patient.

At least Andrew was working in New York and there was no time difference between there and Washington DC, so that made things a little easier as he knew Andrew could Apparate or Floo anywhere he needed to go, if the two of them did get together, so his mate would not have to give up his job, or he wouldn't have to give up his. Whoah, hold on, Ryan told himself. Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

They all continued to chat and it was more than an hour later when Natalie and then Hudson and Bronwyn along with their families finally arrived.

"I'm glad you're here, I was beginning to get a worried," Spencer told his two sisters, brother and their families.

Bronwyn had three children with two more on the way and had gotten pregnant on her honeymoon with girl twins and then two years later with another baby, this time a single boy. Now Bronwyn was quite a few months pregnant with twins again this time both boys and she claimed that these two were going to be her last at least for another three or four years, anyway.

As for Bronwyn's twin brother Hudson he also had three children all singletons, except two girls and a boy. Both twins were married to a witch and wizard so that almost guaranteed that their children would inherit the magic, although magic had still been known to throw up an oddity now and then and produce a squib, even when both parents were a witch and wizard and not inbred, but it didn't happen very often.

"Sorry," Natalie told her older brother giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I was too busy getting engaged to keep track of the time."

Spencer looked startled for a moment and then he hugged his sister again.

"So Jeremy finally popped the question?" Spencer asked and Natalie nodded with the big grin.

Natalie and Jeremy Poe had been dating for several years and it was obvious to everyone in her family that the two of them were made for each other. The two of them had met totally by accident one time at a muggle club, over two years ago now and had been drawn to each other instantly.

Jeremy was a very handsome man with, black hair like Natalie's except short and wavy, instead of long and curly and his eyes were hazel. Jeremy was tall and lithe, with a slim, but muscular build, and was only a few years older then his now fiancé. The bonus in Natalie's book was that Jeremy was also a wizard, who had had gone to school in California where he had been born and where she was now living.

"Would you like to make the announcement now or wait until Jeremy gets here?"

"We can do it over dinner," Natalie said.

"So where is he?" asked Hotch.

"Oh, he'll be here in a few minutes as he had a couple things to do," Natalie told the man she considered an uncle. "He promised that he'd go tell his parents the good news the minute that he proposed to me and he told me to come ahead and that he'd be only half an hour or so behind me."

"At least his parents don't disapprove of you just because of me and Aaron," Spencer commented quietly. "You do know that some people would object to their son or daughter dating someone just because one of their brothers or sisters was in a same-sex relationship."

"Yes, Spence, I'm not totally naïve you know," Natalie told her brother.

"No, you're not," Spencer agreed.

"I'm very happy for you," Hotch told Natalie giving her a hug.

"Thanks, Uncle Aaron," Natalie said kissing his cheek.

"I'm also extremely happy for you," Spencer told his sister giving her a big hug and kissing her forehead. "So have you set a date yet?"

"No, but we will be discussing that sometime in the very near future," Natalie said shaking her head. "I want children and I want them fairly soon, but it can wait until after Jeremy and me tie the knot.

"There's no need to rush as you are plenty young enough to have a dozen if you really wanted to," Spencer told her.

"I'm young enough to have 20 if I really wanted to," Natalie corrected. "I doubt Jeremy and I will have that many, but I would like at least 10."

"Well, thanks to the fact that female Potters tend to produce twins more then is average for other people you could very well have the large family you want, without getting pregnant too many times," Hotch told Natalie who nodded.

"I'm looking forward to it," Natalie said. "I know witches can get pregnant up until their late 50s but I don't plan on carrying a baby that late in my life, as I know very well how hard it can get to carry a baby the older you are."

Before either Hotch or Spencer could respond Jeremy emerged from the Floo, after being told he could enter by Hudson.

As soon as Natalie saw her fiancé she raced into his arms and the two hugged and kissed for a long moment, before they finally broke apart and Jeremy came to shake Spencer and Hotch's hands.

"We are planning to make the announcement of your engagement over dinner," Spencer said and Jeremy nodded.

"That sounds like a fine idea," Jeremy said grinning like an idiot he was so happy.

Ryan watched all of this from the background participating in the conversation, but observing more than speaking, something he was very good at. What he saw made him realize that his boss and his teammate were way different than who they portrayed themselves to be at work. They were much more relaxed here in their own environment where they could just be themselves and not worry about keeping up the façade for other people. Sure they were themselves at work to, but they were much more intense and they definitely didn't touch nearly all the time like they did when they were home. It was a very subtle sort of transformation and most people wouldn't notice the difference, but then he was a profiler and used to observing so it was obvious to him.

He felt happy for Spencer's sister, but sad for his chances of actually having a relationship with Andrew, because the chances of his mate also being gay or bisexual were astronomical. That didn't mean however, that he wasn't going to try.

Ryan had never expected his mate to be another man not to mention one that was six years younger than he was, although their age difference was quite do bit less then Spencer's and Hotch's. Also he had never expected that his mate would be one of his teammates brother's and he was still shocked about that, for he had expected that if he ever found his mate, not only would they be female, they would be totally unrelated to anyone he worked with, which just went to show him that god or fate or whatever had a strange and twisted sense of humor.

"Hey, you're awfully quiet over here," Andrew said coming up to stand beside the man he was oddly attracted to, although he wasn't ready to admit that quite yet, since the two of them had only just officially met.

"Matter of habit," Ryan said, trying not to appear to startled that Andrew had managed to sneak up on him, unnoticed. "I'm a people watcher I guess you could say and I often observe people interacting with each other."

"That's probably what makes you such a good, profiler," Andrew suggested. "I know that Uncle Aaron wouldn't let you, be on his team if you weren't very good at what you did, as he's very picky about who joins his unit."

Ryan looked startled at Andrew's observations for a moment, but he supposed that his mate would know Aaron Hotchner much better than anyone except Spencer or his siblings, since they had lived with the man for quite a few years even if it was only in the summer, although he supposed he could include David Rossi in there somewhere since the man had been Hotch's mentor at one point, although not for many years.

Ryan was sure that all of Spencer's brothers and sisters came back to visit frequently, now that they were all grown up and some, even had families of their own or that Hotch and Spencer went to visit them.

"You're probably right," Ryan conceded.

Ryan was doing his best to carry on a conversation with his mate and not brush up against him in someway. He so wanted to touch Andrew and not just casual ones either, but intimate ones. However, he knew it was way to soon since Andrew didn't even know that he was his mate.

"You know when I first arrived you looked like you were in shock the minute you laid eyes on me," Andrew observed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare at you or anything," Ryan apologize mentally cursing at himself

"You didn't," Andrew assured him. "Well, not for more than a few seconds anyway and I doubt many people would have noticed. You know I've been observing you ever since I arrived and you know what I've noticed?"

"What's that?" Ryan asked, not sure what he expected, though he definitely didn't expect what he got.

"Well," Andrew began thoughtfully, his golden brown eyes mesmerizing Ryan and he knew the other man wasn't even trying to do so and that it just came naturally to him and he knew that he could get lost in the golden brown pools of his mate's eyes for hours if he let himself. Andrew did not for once feel all tongue tied like he did around women that were romantically interested in him. "I know from Spence and Uncle Aaron that you're a Shifter just like my uncle is, I know that a Shifter only has one True Mate and from the way your eyes went wide and completely startled after you laid eyes on me for the first time I would say that I'm yours. Besides, you haven't been very obvious about it, but you've been watching me and you're very rarely very far from where I am at the moment."

Ryan's green eyes widened in shocked surprise and then his expression turned rueful. "Well, now I know that Spencer isn't the only one in the family that's observant," Ryan observed ruefully. "So, what do you think about the fact that you're my True Mate?"

"Why don't we go somewhere quieter and talk," Andrew suggested, trying his best to control his blushing for he was very attracted to the strawberry blond haired man, but wasn't ready to admit it quite yet. "I doubt very much that anyone will notice if we disappear for awhile, since there're so many people in the house at the moment and dinner isn't for a couple of hours."

Ryan was eager to be alone with his mate even if it was only to talk. "Spencer and Hotch will," Ryan said with certainty.

"Probably," Andrew said agreeably. "However, we're both adults so it doesn't matter if we disappear for awhile."

"So where would you suggest?" asked Ryan, trying not to sound eager.

"Well, the library should be nice and quiet right now, so that should be the perfect place for us to talk," Andrew suggested.

"Lead the way," Ryan told Andrew.

Andrew did so and threaded his way through the crowd with Ryan following like an eager puppy.

Hotch and Spencer watched them go unnoticed by either of them and both grinned at each other.

"Well, it looks like Andrew was the one that approached Ryan instead of the other way around," Hotch observed.

"It wouldn't've been too hard for Andrew to guess exactly why Ryan was staring at him earlier, even if it was only for a few seconds before he wretched his gaze away," Spencer pointed out as his arm came around his mate's waist. "He knows just as much about Shifters as I do, thanks to all the information you've given us over the years, so it wouldn't have been hard for him to conclude exactly why Ryan was looking at him like that the minute he stepped out of the Floo."

"I would think that he would've felt a connection Andrew, just like I did to you long before we met each other," Hotch said.

"Well, Andrew hasn't been back in Virginia very often in the last five years, and when he has been here it's been just to see me, because you were working, which means that Ryan was also working and the couple of times he was here while we both were I believe Ryan was out of the country visiting his family in Ireland or visiting family that was living in the States. I know we've been up to visit him quite frequently, but then we can travel the wizarding way by Floo which is instantaneous, so of course, we go up to visit him and my other siblings often, even if it's only for a few hours."

"You're right," Hotch said thinking about it. "They are kind of like starcrossed lovers they just kept missing each other and probably not by very long each time."

"Probably," Spencer agreed kissing his mate on the cheek. "Aren't you glad we invited him to spend Christmas with our family since he couldn't go home this year?"

"Yes, I am, although not for that reason," Hotch said, "Really the fact that Andrew and Ryan are mates is just an added bonus. I'm glad we invited him, because it's not really right for someone to be alone on Christmas, especially when there're other options. Despite the fact that I'm his boss I like Ryan, just as I know you do."

"Being someone's boss doesn't prevent you from becoming friends with your team," Spencer pointed out and Hotch nodded in agreement. "Yes, you have to keep up a certain professionalism and distance while at work, but outside of the work arena that doesn't stop you from being really good friends like you were with Rossi, before you became the unit chief. The whole team respects you and knows the difference between being friends with you outside of the office and obeying your orders while you are working, since they are professionals and know when it's time to be serious and work smoothly together and when they can relax and slip into their nonprofessional skins. Besides, all the team works better with each other if they are friends as well as work associates, because that means they won't let their egos and arrogance get in the way and will often go beyond the call of duty to help out teammate that's in trouble."

"You do have a point," Hotch admitted. "In any case, I think we should stay out of Andrew's and Ryan's business unless either one of them comes to us for advice, as neither one of them are pups or teenagers who need supervision and isn't like either one of them can get the other pregnant."

"Not without those spells anyway," Spencer said with a twitch of his eyebrows and a little smile. "Who knows Andrew might agree to do that, in a few years course. I think the world needs a few more little Reids."

"I don't know that that's a good idea since Ryan works for the government," Hotch pointed out.

"I don't know why not, especially since Andrew can tell any nonmagical person the same story that we did since he does have a rather large trust fund. Trust me when I say that he can more than afford the IVF service even if they have a dozen children."

"Still, it would look rather suspicious to certain people, that both you and I and Ryan went this route."

"And the fact that Ryan and Andrew are mates, doesn't?" asked Spencer with a raised eyebrow and Hotch had to acknowledge that his mate had made a very good point. "I don't think we need to particularly worry since Ryan is nearly invisible to most people when he wants to be, and so as long as he keeps his life outside of work quiet and doesn't talk about it around the office I doubt very much that anybody will pay attention, even Strauss. as she has her hands full at the moment.

Erin Strauss was under investigation for some of the questionable decisions she had made over the last few years, especially where it concerned the BAU's top team. Neither man would be surprised if Strauss ended up being fired at the very least and if she ended up in jail, they both secretly thought that it would be well deserved.

"We'll deal with it, if it causes trouble, but I really don't think it will, since most people don't even know I have brothers and sisters, even if it's in my official file and even if they do know, I doubt very much that they'll bother to do an investigation on who any of my siblings are dating or what they are doing with their lives. I know you can't help, but be worried, but I really don't think there's any reason to be concerned in this case."

"You're right," Hotch acknowledged, "I'll try to stop worrying, although I know I'm the type that can't help thinking about all the things that could go wrong and probably won't."

"And that's one of the reasons I love you so much," Spencer told his mate kissing his cheek. "You genuinely care and because you do, you worry."

Hotch didn't say anything, even though he knew his mate was right and just held Spencer tighter against him as a way of silently acknowledging the point.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"So…" Andrew began suddenly unsure of what to say as soon as he and Ryan were settled in the library on one of the many comfortable couches that dotted it.

"So you know about the mate bond, I have with you," Ryan said knowing that Andrew was nervous, and had been while they had been out in the living room where the family was gathered.

"Well, yes," Andrew admitted running a hand through his brown hair nervously. "It wasn't really all that hard to figure out actually, especially since I lived with a Shifter at least in the summers until I graduated from my magical school in Las Vegas. Uncle Aaron has given all of us a lot of information about Shifters over the years, since the books that are published on them tend to be filled with at lot of misinformation. It took me only a few minutes to figure out exactly why you appeared, so startled, looking utterly shocked that hardly any of the green showed, the second you laid eyes on me meant."

"So how do you really feel about that?" asked Ryan.

"Well…" Andrew began thoughtfully. "I'm not going to say I'm against it, because I'm not. I never thought about the fact that I could very well be like Spence, and that I like both men and women or even just men. I knew I was like my older brother in a lot of ways, one of those being that I've always been extremely shy around the opposite sex, who I've never really felt anything for beyond friendship. I'm not denying that there's been a lot of females over the years that have tried to get my attention or who want to be more than just friends or casual acquaintances or that I've dated a little, but I'm certainly not as prolific as my twin brother Chance or my sister Liya. The truth is I don't really know how I feel at the moment."

Ryan nodded for that was a far better answer than he had expected.

Andrew was one of those rare individuals that had never paid attention to convention, which said you had to start liking girls at a certain age and it was possible that he didn't know which way he swung, since he had never paid attention to that kind of thing being uninterested in dating very much at all. Of course, Ryan suspected part of that was that Andrew probably tended to get tongue tied around woman, who probably scared him shitless when they acted all aggressive.

Some men just didn't go for the way a woman threw themselves at them, while a lot of them did. However, Andrew wasn't the type who enjoyed all the attention that females probably lavished on him, as he wasn't the kind of man that would just soak it up as if he felt he deserved the attention and that it was his due and become even more arrogant because of it. No, he could tell that Andrew was a lot like himself and would be embarrassed at all the female attention and would likely prefer someone that didn't throw himself at his feet, or show him their assets hoping to attract his attention. Ryan knew from experience that a certain type of female could be extremely aggressive and would throw themselves in a man's way that they wanted to notice them, while others were quieter and shyer.

"How about this then: the two of us date when time allows for the next three or four months at least. If at the end of that time, you tell me that you don't find me attractive in that way, then I'll leave you alone and never bother you again," Ryan suggested. The wolf in Ryan's chest howled in denial at his words, but knew that they made sense and that a Shifter's mate's happiness was far more important than their own. "Of course, if you start to feel anything for me beyond platonic friendship you're welcome to tell me and if you're ever ready to take it to the next level all you have to do is speak out."

"You're willing to do that?" asked Andrew in surprise. He shouldn't have been so surprised he knew as he was aware that Uncle Aaron had given his brother the choice, as to whether or not they completed the bond they shared and that it had been Spencer's decision to do that. At the time he'd just thought that his Uncle Aaron had much more patience and was more understanding then most other people would be, but maybe it just wasn't his uncle, but more of a Shifter trait.

"Yes, I am, because a mate happiness is more important than the Shifter's," Ryan told Andrew. "Now if you were another Shifter it would be different, as another of my kind would know immediately that we were mates and would already have developed feelings for me just like I did for them, as that happens instantly the moment that a Shifter finds their True Mate and then they only deepen the longer the two of them are together. However, you're not a Shifter, so that makes a difference. When a Shifter's mate is not one of them, then most of the time the two of them date for awhile, which varies from couple to couple and after that the Normal or magical person either acknowledges that he loves the Shifter in question or tells him that they don't have any feelings for them beyond those of platonic friendship."

"So what happens if that occurs?" asked Andrew.

Ryan looked up Andrew for a moment and he immediately suspected that his mate already knew the answer but still wanted to hear it from him, which was fine.

"Well, one of two things happen," Ryan began. "One the Shifter and his mate separate, and never speak to each other again and then the Shifter in question immediately kills himself in some way or the Shifter is strong enough not to end his life immediately, but he lives kind of a mediocre existence, until he dies either a natural death or the sadness and depression finally get to him and he dies of a broken heart, although some are able to live their lives to their full span of years. Of course, the third option is that if a Shifter is in a dangerous profession they look for ways to get themselves killed quickly, preferably doing something heroic, as they can't stand the thought of suicide, but still want to die. Most of the time this is a subconscious desire not even acknowledged in the conscious mind."

Andrew listened and nodded to himself as that was exactly what Uncle Aaron had told all his siblings.

"Alright then, we'll date for at least the next six months," Andrew decided. "Yes, I realize I live in New York and you live here, but there is no time difference between the two and I can Apparate anywhere I need to go in seconds, so getting together for dates or just to be together should be no problem. We can call each other to arrange our dates, but it's much easier for me to come to you then the other way around. Now I know like Uncle Aaron you're going to be gone a lot, but that doesn't mean we can't keep in contact through texts and phone calls. If after that time I haven't developed any feelings for you behind those of friendship, I'll tell you straight out. Is that fair?"

"Very fair," Ryan said giving a huge mental sigh of relief, although the instant relaxation in his very tense muscles was pretty obvious.

"Now I know your schedule is rather uncertain, especially compared to mine, since most days I only work until five, and I have the weekends off, completely," Andrew said, "which I know is not the case for you for the rest of the team a lot of times."

"Well, actually we do have a lot of weekends off," Ryan said. "The only time we have to work the weekend is if we catch a case on Friday or are already in the middle of one at the time, otherwise our weekends are completely free unless something like a child kidnapping occurs. Any kidnapping is time sensitive so we would be immediately called in if that were to happen."

"So if we do get together I can expect you to be called in even on the weekends sometimes," Andrew questioned and Ryan nodded regretfully.

"I don't always like it, even if I love my job. None of the team likes working the weekends or being called in suddenly interrupting whatever plans they have, but they do it," Ryan said.

"Yes, I can understand you loving your job even if you don't like certain aspects of it," Andrew said with a nod, "especially since I don't like all the paperwork that goes along with mine even if I do like most other aspects."

"Now there's one aspect I really hate about working for the government," Ryan said making a face. "Believe me, I hate doing paperwork just as much as you do and the government seems to run on it even if I love most of the rest of my job."

"We're in the wrong professions if we hate doing paperwork," Andrew joked, relaxing more and more as they talked.

"We don't have to like every aspect of our jobs, we just have to do them," Ryan said and Andrew agreed.

As they talked Andrew moved unconsciously closer to the other man, though he didn't seem to notice, though Ryan did and silently cheered in his head that maybe things were not as hopeless as they appeared on the surface.

"So when do you want to go on our first date?" Andrew asked.

"Well, what about, right after Christmas, the 26th as the team is off until the new year, although we are on call."

"Sounds fine," Andrew immediately agreed trying not to appear to eager. Andrew took a slip of paper and a pen out of his pocket and wrote down his cell number. "Here's my phone number, make sure you call me."

"You can call me to and if I don't answer right away it's because I'm working," Ryan said, also writing down his cell number and handing the slip to Andrew. "I will call you back when I have a few free minutes."

"We should probably get back to the living room, as I'm sure we've been missed. Dinner is in half an hour, and if we haven't been missed by now we will be if are not there when dinner is served," Andrew said.

"You're right," Ryan admitted reluctantly not wanting to leave the presence of his mate, as it was a little slice of heaven, even though being so close to him was also torturous, especially since he was unable to touch him as he hadn't been given permission and anything beyond a handshake was not acceptable.

"I don't mind if you want to touch me, like on the arm," Andrew said suddenly, somehow sensing the internal struggle that Ryan was going through.

Ryan looked startled, then grateful.

"Thank you," Ryan said immediately moving closer until his and Andrew's legs were touching through the fabric of their pants. "You're certainly being more accommodating than I expected you to be."

"If touching me in someway makes you feel better then it's fine," Andrew told Ryan with a smile and a twinkle in his golden brown eyes. "I'm more aware of a Shifter's needs then most, thanks to my honorary uncle being one. Of course, I'm not ready to go any farther than that, not yet."

"This is enough for now," Ryan said, although the wolf in his chest violently disagreed with that statement, so Ryan tampered down the wolf in his chest reaction as he didn't want to scare Andrew off, by suddenly throwing the younger man over his shoulder and taking him somewhere to make love to him, like the wolf in him wanted to do. We need to give him time, Ryan told the wolf in him silently. I know what you want and it's what I want to, but we've just met and it's way too soon. We must give him the choice and a chance to truly know what his feelings are and not just attack him. A Shifter mate's feelings come before their own.

The wolf in his chest subsided at that reminder and seemed to lay down not looking happy and the human part of Ryan didn't blame the wolf a bit for not being happy with this situation.

"I know you probably don't want to move," Andrew said sympathetically, "and I certainly don't blame you for that, but we really need to rejoin the other's, as they'll be calling dinner in just a few minutes."

"Alright," Ryan said forcing himself to rise from the couch and head towards the door to the library Andrew immediately following.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"So Andrew and Ryan certainly looked happy when they emerged from the library right before dinner the other night," Spencer said. "So what do you think happened in there?"

"Well, if I had to guess, I would say the two of them had a nice long talk and because Ryan looked reasonably happy I would say that Andrew was willing to at least give the bond a chance. The two of them will likely date for the next few months and while Ryan's feelings will continue to develop just like they do for any Shifter who has found their True Mate, hopefully, Andrew will be able to sort out his feelings as well. I think Andrew made a very mature decision about him and Ryan dating for awhile."

"So you believe that Andrew isn't too sure of his feelings, but we know Ryan is," Spencer said and Hotch nodded.

"Yes, I do," Hotch agreed.

"Yes," Spencer said slowly thinking about it, "that makes complete sense. Andrew is a lot like me actually, as he hardly ever dated back when he went to school. Girls were always falling all over him, but I remember how tongue-tied he would get around them. I never thought anything of it until Ryan discovered that he had a True Mate Bond with Andrew the other day, but it's very possible that he's like me and he's bisexual or even completely gay."

"You probably never thought about it because it's unusual to have two siblings in the same family the like their own sex," Hotch suggested and Spencer nodded.

"Well, that's true, but it's possible that Andrew is completely gay while I'm not or wasn't anyway until we got together, but now I might as well be. It's very possible that Andrew just hasn't realized it that he only likes his own sex yet. He wasn't one of those types that considered dating all that important, as he was more studious like I was. Of course, one of the reasons that he probably didn't date much was because as I said he got all tongue-tied around females or at least he did while I was at school. Girls tried to come onto him, but he never really paid then much attention, other than to escape as soon as possible. However, I'm so much older than he is I was only there for his first two years, but I know that the older he got the more the girls tried to get his attention thanks to letters from my siblings. You know the ironic thing is that while Andrew is shy around the opposite sex his twin brother Chance is the exact opposite as you know and considering the two of them could be identical except for the color of their eyes, well you would think their personalities would be similar, but they're not.

"No, their personalities are polar opposites," Hotch admitted. "Andrew is pretty confident in most aspects of his life, except when it comes to the subject of dating and woman, although he certainly has a quieter and less forceful personality then his twin's. However, Chance is the complete opposite and has gone through girlfriends like JJ does case files and has probably had a dozen or more in the last year alone, although I realize that we likely don't hear about many of them since they don't last long enough to meet the family."

"It's just that it's unusual for twins to have such different personalities," Spencer said, "as usually twins born from the same womb, with the same life experiences at least until they are out on their own are usually pretty similar in their personalities, I mean just look at Leah and Liya, they look totally different from each other different heights, different, eye color, different hair color and yet their personalities are pretty similar, as are Hudson's and Bronwyn's, even though they are different sexes. Andrew and Chance, on the other hand, are as different as night and day and you would think that they would have similar personalities while Bronwyn and Hudson or Leah and Liya would be the ones that were different in that way."

"Haven't you often told me that you never know the quirks genetics are going to throw up?" asked Hotch rhetorically.

"Yeah, I have," Spencer admitted. "I suppose that my twin brothers and their completely opposite personalities is just one of those quirks. Really Andrew is more like mom as she was always the quieter and more studious, while my father did have that side to him he could also be rather brash and bold and I heard that he went through a string of girlfriends before he met my mother."

"See it's just one of those quirks of youth and Chance will settle down, just like your father did, once he meets the right person to do that with," Hotch said. "I know very well how falling in love can change a person."

Spencer nodded and knew that Aaron was talking about his sister who had gotten herself in more trouble then anyone can imagine and had been heading down a very bad road, until she had met a man that she'd fallen head over heels in love with and her feelings had been reciprocated. She was now married and had six children, from two different pregnancies and was pregnant with another four.

When Hotch's sister Lizzy had met Christopher Devane and fallen for him like a ton of bricks. Spencer knew that Aaron had had a background check done on his sister's new love interest, very deeply, but quietly to make sure his sister wasn't getting herself in even more trouble, since Lizzy didn't exactly have the best judgment when it came to men or in any other aspect of her life actually. Hotch couldn't really blame his sister for acting out the way she had until she had met Chris considering what their upbringing had been like, but he was glad now that she had settled down and had a few pups. Love had definitely changed Aaron's sister for the better. Now if only the same thing would happen to Chance Spencer would be happy

"You know it's very possible that he never thought about the fact that he might be gay," Hotch said. "I mean, as you said he was never one to date much, so it might never have occurred to him that he might like his own sex instead of women."

"You're probably right," Spencer acknowledged. "In any case, it's not my place to say anything about it since Andrew is a grown man and I would sound like a hypocrite if I objected considering..."

"Considering you're mated to another man," Hotch suggested chuckling, Spencer following a moment later.

"Yes, that's exactly what I meant," Spencer said, as soon as he was done laughing. "The irony of this situation is not lost on me."

The two men were quiet for a moment and then Spencer said, "I truly hope that Andrew and Ryan get together, as I believe that they would have a very fulfilling relationship, just as we do, but it must be Andrew's choice."

"Ryan won't force Andrew into anything," Hotch assured his mate, "as not only would that be against the Shifter code of ethics Ryan knows it would bring down the wrath of me, not to mention you upon him. Besides, Ryan is a very nice person and his personal code of honor would never allow him to force someone into having a relationship with him, just as mine won't. I'm not saying that a Shifter trying to force their mate into a relationship before they are ready doesn't happen sometimes, because we both know it does, just that Ryan is too honorable and ethical to do such a thing."

"You're right," Spencer acknowledged relaxing a little. "Ryan isn't the type to force Andrew into having sex with him until Andrew is ready, if he ever is, to take that step. Besides, as I said earlier Andrew is a grown man and has ways of protecting himself if Ryan does happen to go to far."

"Yeah, he does have a black belt in taekwondo doesn't he?" Hotch said chuckling.

"Also ones in judo and karate and he's working on one in aikido," Spencer reminded his mate. "In any case, he can also use magic to defend himself if necessary, since Ryan does know that he's a wizard, but if someone who didn't know that went to far Andrew has ways of defending himself and then could take the memory of it afterwards if he had to."

"If anyone dared try to force themselves on you I would rip them to pieces," Hotch growled, looking mightily protective.

"I can protect myself," Spencer reminded his mate gently. "If all else fails I can use magic on someone and then take their memory of it afterwards, just like Andrew can."

Spencer wasn't upset about what Aaron had said simply because he knew it was a Shifter's nature to be extremely protective of their mates and children, because it meant at least a life of unhappiness if anything were to happen to a Shifter's True Mate, especially if they were actually together and the bond had been finalized.

"I know you can," Hotch said looking contrite. "The wolf in me knows it too, even though it overcame me for a moment."

"It's okay, I'm not upset," Spencer assured Aaron. "So do you believe Andrew will develop feelings for Ryan?"

"It's not the kind of thing you can predict," Hotch said and Spencer nodded, as Aaron was right of course, "but if I have to make an educated guess I would say that Andrew is already developing feelings for him."

"Why do you say that?" Spencer asked curiously.

"The way they were sitting together at dinner," Hotch said, "and the way they were never very far from each other, during the gift exchange. They were almost always touching in some way, even if it was just a hand on an arm. Ryan never would have been touching Andrew unless he had given him permission to do so, because as you know us Shifters have our own code of ethics. We never touch our mate at least when the relationship is just starting out and before the bond is finalized until we are given permission to do so. Once that bond has been fulfilled by having sex for the first time then we are allowed to touch our mate in anyway we please, without asking first, as that means that the other person, always a human, has acknowledged the True Mate Bond and this gives the Shifter in question tacit permission. Since Ryan is a true Shifter and follows the Shifter code, he must've been given permission by Andrew to touch him, as Ryan wouldn't have done so otherwise, no matter how hard it was for him personally. I even saw him kiss Andrew on the cheek once before the two of them left, together I might add and your brother certainly didn't seem to mind, even if he was blushing madly the entire time."

Spencer absorbed the information and now understood why Aaron hadn't touched him after they had first met until he had given him permission to do so, well not after the initial handshake as apparently that was allowed, which made sense, because a handshake was considered a common courtesy and it would be rude not to accept one.

"Well, that means that Andrew almost certainly has feelings for Ryan or is at least starting to because there is no way my brother would have allowed him to kiss his cheek if he wasn't. Andrew isn't the type of person that would allow that kind of thing unless he had some sort of feelings for the individual," Spencer said. "Touching on the arm or the shoulder is one thing, kissing even on the cheek is quite another."

"Just like you," Hotch teased his mate who smiled in acknowledgement.

"Well, I did say that he's a great deal like me and it appears he's like me in that way as well," Reid said with a smile accepting his mate's teasing with good grace.

"Well, you certainly do have some old-fashioned ideas when it comes to dating and what's allowable," Hotch said teasingly having already known this.

"Well, you have to remember that even here in America the wizarding world is behind the muggle one, not so much in its technology aspect, but when it comes to its customs it's still very old-fashioned. I am much more up-to-date on the current customs, when it comes to relationships then a lot of the older generation, who still act like it's the very early 20th century, where even holding hands was considered very forward, unless you were at least engaged."

"No, you are definitely not that bad, although it does show up occasionally, but I know it's how you were raised, by your mother anyway, which is why some of your ideas about relationships are rather old-fashioned. However, I think it's adorable and I really don't mind, since in most ways you are very modern."

Spencer blushed at this and he silently acknowledged that Aaron was the only one he allowed to call him adorable and get away with it.

"We'll just have to wait and see how their relationship progresses, but we mustn't interfere, because Andrew is an adult and he doesn't need his big brother butting in, or his honorary uncle for that matter."

"You're right," Spencer acknowledged. "I won't interfere unless Andrew comes to me for advice and luckily, we'll probably be busy enough that I won't have a chance to anyway."

"Good, but now I believe we could be doing other things," Hotch silkily suggested with a heated leer, deliberately letting his eyes rove up and down his mate's body which still had way too many clothes on.

Spencer blushed at his mate's heated regard, but willingly hopped up from the couch and undressed in just a few seconds.

"Well, since we are now alone in the house…" Spencer said drawing out his sentence.

Hotch immediately got the message and was also off the couch and out of his clothes in a matter of seconds.

"Why don't we just stay down here?" Spencer asked. "This is a perfect weather to make love in front of the fireplace."

"Sounds good to me, especially since all the children are tucked for the night and it's very unlikely that anybody will come downstairs since it's after 11 o'clock." Hotch said and watched as Spencer waved a hand and some thick, warm blankets appeared.

"They're only conjured, but they should last at least until morning," Spencer said.

Hotch shook his head in amazement, but all he did was pick his mate up in his arms and carry him over to where the blankets were, before putting him down, gently.

Spencer gestured again and the fire, which had slowly been dying out roared to life once more, as if he had thrown a whole can of gasoline on it.

"There now the room will stay nice and warm, so we won't have to worry about freezing to death," Spencer said.

"We wouldn't have frozen not with these nice, warm blanket you conjured, but you're right the fire makes it much nicer and we haven't made love in front of the fire since that one night not long after the birth of our last set of sextuplets," Hotch said smiling, as he remembered that time.

"Well, that might possibly be where our last set of sextuplets came from," Spencer said slyly, blushing slightly as he remembered that time very well. Aaron had been so gentle and tender and romantic on that particular occasion, when usually he was demanding when they had sex, because the wolf in him was so eager to have his mate.

"Could be," Hotch agreed with a wide grin as he to remembered how he and Spencer had made love all night in front of the fire. That had been so long ago, as they hadn't done it since that night.

"That was what two years ago?" asked Hotch knowing that his mate would remember the exact date as well as every little detail of their lovemaking.

"Nearly three actually," Spencer said.

"That long?" Hotch murmured. "Well, since everybody's gone to bed for the night and we basically have the house to ourselves so why don't we reenact that night?"

"I have no objections," Spencer said his voice silkily smooth, as he threw his arms around Aaron's neck, kissing him eagerly, which Hotch responded to immediately. "I've just placed a silencing charm around the room so there's no chance of anyone in the house hearing us, so we can make as much noise as we like, and not have to worry about anybody overhearing us."

"Well," Hotch said smirking, "in that case I'm going to make you scream my name so loudly that the whole house would hear you, if not for that silencing charm."

"And I'll make you do the same," Spencer said smilingly kissing his mate deeply again, which Hotch responded to eagerly, as he would never get enough of kissing the man he would adore for as long as he was alive to do so.

Once the kiss was broken Hotch rolled over until he was on top of his mate making sure to support his weight with one arm, since he knew he was much heavier, then the younger man.

"I love you so much, Spencer," Hotch said, "and I don't tell you that nearly often enough."

"I know you love me," Spencer said, "even if you don't say the words all that often, but neither do I, so that little bit of forgetfulness is not entirely on you."

"It is never a good idea to get so caught up in your life that you forget to acknowledge such a simple thing as saying I love, because that is a good way to let a relationship go sour, which happens to Shifters as well as Normals, although not usually to True Mates, but still it's not a good idea to get complacent," Hotch said, "and being busy is no excuse, to forget to tell someone you love them. I'll try my best to do better in the future, so you never feel like I don't love you, because I do and with every breath I take I love you more."

Spencer nearly had tears in his eyes as he knew Aaron meant every word and at that moment he felt more treasured and loved been he had for a long time. It wasn't that he didn't know Aaron loved him, but still he did like to hear him say it occasionally, but then he didn't say it very often either, so it wasn't entirely Aaron's fault.

Spencer leaned up just enough to kiss his mate deeply to silently let him know that he understood what he was trying to say and once the kiss had broken, Hotch immediately begin to lavish his mate's slimly muscled body with attention, which had Spencer writhing beneath him and begging for more in seconds, which was a demand that Hotch was more then happy to comply with.

And that was how the two of them spent the rest of the night, making love in front of the fire, again and again with little catnaps in-between.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	18. Chapter 18

Two months later on February 20, JJ's quadruplets were born. It was just a week after Valentine's Day, when her babies decided it was time to make an appearance, even though she wasn't scheduled for a c-section for another week.

The team rushed her to the hospital and luckily, they weren't in the middle of case when it happened and just doing paperwork at the office and got her to the hospital in plenty of time, although her contractions were coming fast and hard, by the time they got through traffic.

A nurse was waiting with a wheelchair as Spencer had called ahead, and reeled off JJ's medical information right off the top of his head. While Spencer handled calling the hospital Hotch had called Dario and told him his mate had gone into labor.

Morgan had driven like a maniac to get JJ to the hospital as soon as possible while the others on the team came in a separate SUV at a slower pace.

JJ had immediately been rushed into surgery so she could have a c-section a week early and it was only an hour and a half later that the doctor had came and informed everyone that JJ was fine and so were her sextuplets.

The team had stared at the doctor in shock for they had been only expecting quadruplets maybe quintuplets, but sextuplets?

Dario, had of course, been over the moon once he found out that his mate had had six babies, even though he had been worried about her until the doctor had said that she was fine and resting.

"So was it boys and girls or all of one sex?" asked Dario.

"You now have four very healthy girls and two very healthy boys," the doctor told Dario who whooped for joy, as he had secretly been hoping for a few more girls, since he and JJ only had two and had three sons.

"Can I see my wife?" asked Dario.

"Of course," the doctor agreed smiling, "Your wife won't be awake for at least an hour, as she's under general anesthesia, so I would suggest that you go see your children in the nursery first."

"Come on my man, you can go see your children and then go see your wife when she's awake," Morgan urged Dario.

"Alright," Dario agreed smiling, "that's a good idea."

Dario was now much more relaxed that he knew JJ was okay, just sleeping from the anesthesia that the doctors had put her under an order to perform the c-section.

"Well, you are going to have your hand fulls with 11 children," Spencer told Dario who grinned in acknowledgment.

"I don't really mind," Dario told everyone. "However, it's very good thing that JJ and I bought that 12 passenger van."

"Yes, 11 babies is a lot for anybody to handle," Rossi said. "Anybody who has that many children is brave in my opinion, because there is no way I could ever handle that many small children at one time. I wouldn't mind having two or three, but then that would be it."

"Anywhere from 10 to 12 is average in a Shifter family," Dario told Rossi.

"I know it," Rossi said, "as Aaron has often told me the same thing, that doesn't mean I would want that many children for myself."

"Yes, most Normals only have three or four," Dario acknowledged.

"The average is three," Rossi said, "although their are Normal families that are bigger. Of course, some women have trouble getting pregnant and giving birth and if you and JJ had there's no way you would've been able to have as many as you do if that had been the case for your mate."

"Yes, I'm very lucky and blessed," Dario acknowledged. "I'm very lucky we met in Los Angeles seven years ago, as I know very well that a lot Shifters never find their mate at all. I knew the moment that she entered the city, as she was within a hundred miles, but that's like looking for a particular needle in a field of needles, so don't think I'm not aware of how lucky I am that your case involved the company I'm working for."

"So you didn't mind being a murder suspect?" Emily teased him and Dario grinned.

"At the time I can't say it was a very comfortable feeling to have been suspected of murder, but at least you didn't think I had done it once you had interviewed me and so I was cleared relatively quickly. I'm just glad that you didn't make up your mind that I had done it like some cops would have."

"We have to keep ourselves free of bias," Hutch told Dario. "We might know that someone's guilty or not guilty, but we have to prove it with actual evidence, even if our instincts are telling us it's not a particular person or they are telling us that a certain person is guilty. I knew when I interviewed you that you were not our unsub and Rossi agreed, so as you said you were cleared relatively quickly."

"I still can't believe that Max did it," Dario said sighing. "I thought he was my friend until he tried to frame me."

"It's hardly your fault, your former friend was very sick," Morgan told Dario. "I'm not saying it doesn't hurt even after seven years, just that you have nothing to do with what he did and you need to think about that and about how you never would have met JJ if not for your former friend Max trying to frame you."

"That's true enough," Dario agreed brightening at the thought of his mate. "I knew the moment I saw her across the police station that she was the one. I'm just glad that the moment she saw me she developed that crush on me and agreed to go out on that date after she had finished working for the night. After that first date things just went on from there, even though I knew that she would have to leave with the team as soon as the case was solved."

"She must've really liked you, as JJ is usually very cautious about who she agrees to to date," Spencer told Dario. "Yes, I know you had a mate bond with her just like I do with Aaron or Morgan has with Garcia and I'm sure that JJ recognized that fact since she is around a couple of Shifters that are mated on a regular basis, so she would have known the signs immediately."

"She knew," Dario said with a grin as he remembered. "She told me straight out that she knew about the True Mate Bond that had snapped into place the moment I laid eyes on her and that she was willing to give me a chance, but that if I wrecked it there would be no other."

"No, JJ would never give a person a second chance to hurt her emotionally," Garcia said, "as it has happened several times in the past and she decided there would be no more second chances, for whoever she dated."

"Well, apparently Dario didn't hurt JJ, because here he is seven years later with 11 children," Morgan teased him.

"No, I would never hurt JJ intentionally and luckily, I didn't do it accidentally either," Dario said.

"I know it was hard for you to be away from her for all those months, even if you did visit each other frequently on the weekends," Garcia told Dario who nodded.

"It was hard, but I was very lucky that my company had a branch in Washington and it just took a few months to get a transfer, though that six months before we were together again was hard, even though we flew up to see each other during most weekends, but finally JJ and I were with each other and that was all that mattered to either one of us."

The group continued talking until finally they reached the nursery and looked in the window trying to find the four girls and two boys that looked like JJ or Dario.

Spencer finally found them on the back row and pointed the whole team looked at the beautiful babies that their teammate and her husband had produced.

"They're beautiful," Emily cooed, for she loved babies.

"I certainly think so," Dario said with a big grin.

"You're their dad, you're supposed to," Rossi told Dario with a smirk.

"I think they're gorgeous too," Garcia said, "and I'm not their mother."

Rossi rolled his eyes at Garcia, but secretly admitted that the babies JJ and Dario had produced were gorgeous. It appeared half of them were going to get JJ's blonde hair, while the other half were going to inherit Dario's brown. Rossi couldn't see the babies eyes at the moment, but he guessed that all of them would get Dario's brown eyes since according to Spencer they were dominate. Of course, you never knew and some of them might very well get JJ's baby blues.

All the team admired the babies for a few minutes and then all of them headed for the front entrance, except for Dario who was going to stay to visit his wife before heading home for the night as JJ would have to stay in the hospital at least overnight.

The whole team promised to visit JJ tomorrow, once she'd had a good night's sleep and Dario bid them goodbye, grateful to the team who was JJ's family along with him and their children and he couldn't be happier about that. He knew that JJ's team looked after her when they were out of town for work and he was beyond grateful for that as he knew they would do almost anything to protect each other.

Dario watched the team disappear into the elevator and once the were gone he headed down several floors to visit his wife.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

A month later

March 24

Ryan paced nervously, trying his best to work off some of his excessive pent-up sexual energy. It had been nearly four months since the last time he'd had sex, as he'd had a one night stand with a woman he had met in a bar that he and the team hung out at after work fairly often, but that had been the end of it and that had been about three weeks before he and Andrew had met. That one night stand had been more to relieve his sexual tension, then because he truly liked the woman he had slept with, although he admitted he had liked her enough to go back to her apartment with her. Normally one night stands were not something Ryan would ever have considered doing, as he wasn't usually that kind of guy and it had only happened because it had been over six months, since he'd had sex. He wasn't exactly sure how much longer he could last, since he was a healthy, young male Shifter with a very active libido. Andrew was the one that had set the six month limit, and only three of those months had passed. He and his mate had been spending most of their free time together and just like Hotch before him Andrew only went back to his apartment when it was getting quite late at night and time to go to bed.

Spending time with his mate, even if that was platonically, was a balm to his soul, but still the wolf within Ryan was starting to get quite anxious, and the human part of Ryan Matthews would hardly blame the wolf for that.

The last time that he and Andrew had spent time together, it had been very hard for him to just not attack the younger man and take him to bed, even without his permission, but he had managed to resist...somehow. It had been a very close call though and Ryan wasn't exactly sure how much longer he would be able to resist like that.

The wolf in him so wanted to make love to Andrew, to complete the bond that was between them even if his mate couldn't feel it, until it was done.

Suddenly there was a knock on his apartment door and Ryan immediately strode towards it and opened it, before Andrew had a chance to knock again.

Ryan pulled Andrew into the apartment, and shut the door and as soon as it was Ryan was all over his mate kissing him deeply, which the two of them had progressed to after less than a month. Andrew had agreed to start making out, after just three weeks which Ryan was grateful for as that helped with the sexual tension he'd been feeling lately.

"Happy to see me, are you?" Andrew teased with a rather dopey look on his face, as soon as the kiss had broken.

"You know I am," Ryan answered as he smothered Andrew's face with kisses again.

Andrew had to acknowledge that this was true as Ryan showed him every day they were together that he was loved. The one thing that he really appreciated was that Ryan never pushed him into having sex with him, although he had indicated more than once that he was ready to do that at anytime, but that it was his decision.

Andrew had not admitted this to anyone, but his feelings for Ryan had been increasing for quite sometime and he knew that he loved the other man. The more time that he and Ryan spent together the more sure that Andrew became that the wolf Shifter was the one for him. Andrew had not told Ryan this yet, but that had been part of his plan for tonight, with hopefully, fucking each other senseless directly afterwards. One of the reason he had waited until now was he wanted to be sure that Ryan was free for the weekend before making any announcements, because that meant they'd have Friday night, Saturday and Sunday to stay in bed and make love, before both of them would have to go back to work on Monday.

Ryan was everything he could possibly want in a life partner, he was sweet, passionate, generous, kind, loving, gentle, tender, compassionate and he always thought of his needs before his own. Also he had a smile that melted his heart every time he saw it, which was a really great added bonus as far as he was concerned. Andrew admitted if only to himself he'd always had a weakness for dimples and Ryan had two, one on the cleft of his chin and one at the left corner of his mouth.

Ryan led the way into his main living area and Andrew saw that Ryan already had everything prepared, with Chinese food sitting on the coffee table, along with butterbeer.

"Well, it looks like you're preparing for more company than just me as this like quite the feast," Andrew joked.

"No, I just know your appetite," Ryan replied with a smile and Andrew had to admit that his mate knew him a little too well. "Remember I've known you for three months now and I've seen how much you can eat at one sitting and then be hungry again just a few hours later."

Andrew had to admit that it took a lot to fill him up, but then unlike his brother Spencer he was big and brawny, like his brother Chance. Part of that brawniest came from the fact that he still exercised and took martial arts classes, so he was in excellent physical shape much like his brother Spencer, although Spencer had more of a runner's or swimmer's body, while he was made more like a football player or a weightlifter and so his body was similar in size and shape to his Uncle Aaron's, with the exception that he was not quite as bulky.

"Alright, so I'm hungry a lot of the time, but I'm a big guy and it takes a lot to maintain this body," Andrew said.

"Well, Hotch and Morgan both eat a lot too, much more than anybody else on the team, but then both of them are a little bit bigger then you are, so it's probably just has to do with your body size. Of course, you're not even 30 yet and men your age tend to eat a lot more to, so that has a lot to do with it as well."

"I also do a lot of physical activity, which just just makes me hungrier," Andrew added.

"Which might be another reason that Hotch, me and the rest of the team eat like we're starving sometimes when we've had to chase after an unsub, as after all you have to replenish your energy somehow and that means either eating or sleeping or both," Ryan said.

Andrew nodded in acknowledgement, but was trying to work out his strategy as he stuffed his face.

"This was really good, Ryan," Andrew said finally, putting down his fork.

"You're welcome," Ryan said smiling. He had eaten his share as he watched Andrew stuff his face, obviously starving since he ate enough for three people.

Once there was not even enough Chinese food left to make a second meal Ryan got up to throw the containers away in the kitchen trashcan, then came back to sit down beside his mate.

"Ryan, I have something to tell you," Andrew said, as calmly as possible trying his best to not fidget nervously. He had known about Ryan's feelings since the beginning, since that was one of the aspects of the True Mate Bond. When a Shifter found their True Mate and that bond snapped into place then every Shifter knew that this was the person they were meant to be with and the love began right at the same instant that the bond snapped into place. However, it took time to truly fall in love even for the Shifter with the True Mate Bond even if they knew it was as inevitable as death and taxes. If a Shifter's mate was a Normal or someone magical then a lot of times they were rejected and that many times meant the death of the Shifter in question. Some Normals weren't willing to even try to get to know the Shifter before they rejected them and sometimes they were already married with children and weren't willing to leave their family, which in that case was understandable, although no less tragic.

Ryan looked up and studied Andrew's face noticing his nervous expression, not to mention his body language was practically screaming nervousness.

Andrew rushed on with what he had to say before Ryan could even verbally acknowledge his previous statement.

"You've been extremely patient with me and I thank you for that, since I know very well the inevitability of a True Mate Bond," Andrew began. "I thank you for giving me the time to figure out how I felt, but now I have. I believe I've always been interested in my own sex, but I just never took the time to discover that until you came along. Most women, well, besides, my own sisters and my nieces scare me to death either by trying to subtly get my attention or by throwing themselves at me. What I'm trying to say is that I've fallen in love with you, and I am ready to take the next step."

Ryan had listened Andrew's speech with a growing sense of wonder and hope and by the time his mate was done he wanted to jump up and start dancing around the living room, but instead he asked, "Are you sure? Once we do this, once we make love for the first time, we will be bound together for the rest of our time on this Earth. Make absolutely, positively sure you are ready and this is really what you want, because once we go through with this, you will never be able to leave me for any reason, just as I will never be able to leave you. There is no divorce for a Shifter and their True Mate, as I know you are aware."

"I'm sure," Andrew promised him. "I've been thinking about this for the last couple of weeks, but I didn't want to mention it until I was sure that you had the weekend off, since I know very well you would've had even more trouble concentrating on doing your job then you have been lately."

"My concentration has been shot lately," Ryan admitted as calmly as possible, even while he really wanted to start jumping for joy, "but having sex with you should solve that problem, well, besides, the anticipation of coming home, when I've been gone for a few days. Hotch and Spencer are so lucky that they now work together, even if I know they didn't for the first 11, almost 12 years and that he's only been an agent for a short time."

"Yeah, that kind of took me by surprise," Andrew admitted. "I'd never in a million years imagined that my brother would go through the FBI Academy and join the bureau. I'm not saying he's not intelligent or athletic enough, just that I never imagined it was something he would do."

"You might not have imagined it, but he's doing a very good job," Ryan said smiling a little. "I've heard talk from older FBI agents who are amazed at how much Spencer knows, and how much the BAU's statistics of solving cases has gone up just in the time since he's joined the team. It was around the mid-80s and now it's in the high 90s, around 95 or 96% actually. So far our superiors are really pleased, well, everyone except for Strauss, Hotch's direct superior. The higher-ups are also pleased that so far Hotch and Spencer have managed to act professionally as there hasn't been a single complaint from anyone, about them being unprofessional."

"That's good," Andrew said smiling. "I always knew my older brother was more intelligent than most other people. It's nice to see his talents finally put to use since the family has known for sometime that he was been bored at St. Murphy's. I can't really blame him for that because it's the same thing day after day and he needs variety, thanks to his intelligent mind. He told us that he was surprised when the FBI instructors told him that his IQ was 198, as it had never been quantified before, but considering how much he's always doing some sort of research project I wasn't really all that surprised and neither were the rest of our siblings. The fact that he remembers everything he sees is part of it as well."

"We can discuss this later, as I believe we could be fucking each other senseless," Ryan said and Andrew grinned up at him his brown eyes sparkling.

"Let's head to the bedroom, I'm looking forward to it," Andrew said, as he leaned forward to kiss Ryan deeply, his tongue demanding entrance to his mate's mouth and Ryan opened his lips eagerly for his mate's demanding tongue.

"Let's go," Ryan said eagerly. "I'm glad you spoke out as I was about to go quietly crazy, as the sexual tension I've been feeling has left me all tense and masturbating only does so much and has lately become very unsatisfying."

"I wonder why?" asked Andrew rhetorically grinning at him, his golden brown eyes sparkling.

"Probably because I really wanted to be fucking you," Ryan suggested with a grin of his own. "You have no idea how many times I talked myself out of just throwing you over my shoulder and carrying you to bed when you are over here."

"Well, you're welcome to do that sometime, but not tonight," Andrew said, as he took Ryan's hand and practically dragged him towards the bedroom.

"No, need to drag me," Ryan laughed the wolf in his chest panting eagerly, anticipating exactly what was about to happen. "I'll gladly follow you as I've been looking forward to this for three months now, ever since the second I laid eyes on you."

Andrew let go of Ryan's hand and the two raced each other to the bedroom.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Congratulations," Spencer told his brother and Ryan, when the two of them stepped out of the fireplace, Sunday night for dinner. It was immediately obvious that Andrew and Ryan had had sex, which meant that Andrew must have fallen in love with Ryan and agreed to acknowledge the Shifter bond.

"Welcome to the family, Ryan," Hotch said slapping the younger man on the back.

"Thank you," Ryan said with a grin so wide it practically split his face in two and Hotch for one could not blame him in the least for it.

"I'm happy for you both," Spencer added giving his brother and also Ryan hugs.

"Thank you, big brother," Andrew told Spencer giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I've never been so happy in my life."

"I know that feeling very well," Spencer told his brother putting a hand affectionately on his mate's arm.

"So you can tell us all about how it happened over dinner," Hotch said with a grin of his own, for both Ryan and Andrew practically glowed with happiness.

"We don't need any of the intimate details though," Spencer hastily added.

"I wouldn't worry about that, Spence," Andrew told his brother with a laugh. "I'm not going to give you any of the intimate details as you know I'm not one to brag about my sexual conquests, not that there were many of those."

Ryan kissed Andrew on the cheek and Andrew just gave him an adoring look that made Hotch and Spencer silently grin at each other, for they both remembered those days very well back when their bond had still been new and also very strong.

"Why don't we sit down as dinner will be ready in less than half an hour and we have a few minutes to just sit and talk," Spencer suggested gently.

Ryan looked at Spencer and then nodded in acknowledgment and all four men settled themselves on various pieces of furniture.

"So when did this happen?" asked Spencer as soon as they were settled in the living room.

"Just this weekend," Andrew answered, immediately blushing a little.

"Friday to be precise, after work," Ryan added with a grin. "Andrew came over for dinner and after we had eaten he finally told me that he had fallen in love with me and it just proceeded from there."

"Well, that sounds very similar to how we got together except without the food," Spencer said smiling. "I'm genuinely happy for you both."

"Come on we want details," Hotch urged them, "and not the intimate ones either as Spencer told you a few minutes ago, but what made you fall in love, Andrew, the courtship, things like that. Normally I don't care when a Shifter gets together with their mate, but you're part of my family Andrew and now Ryan is as well, since after you completed the bond that meant the two of you will now be together forever, which officially makes Ryan part of my family instead of unofficially like before."

Andrew and Ryan looked at each other and then Andrew said, "Well, courtship is a good word for our previous relationship, as that was exactly what Ryan did when he wasn't out of town. Yes, I live in New York and Ryan in Virginia, however, there is no time difference between the two and I can Apparate or Floo anywhere I need to go in seconds so it wasn't really a problem, for Ryan and me to be together for our dates when he was home. I've practically lived at his place for the last three months anyway only returning to my apartment in order to sleep."

"Now that sounds familiar," Hotch said with a smile. "I did the same before Spencer and I completed our bond and we spent hours just talking or making out as teenagers like to put it. Of course, we went on a few dates to. I practically lived over here only going back to my place in order to sleep. I was extremely lucky that Spencer and I completed the bond in just a little bit over two weeks and that the BAU only had one case, which was local during that time."

"Yes, well my big brother had already acknowledged the fact that he liked his own sex while I hadn't at least not until the last couple of weeks. I had a lot of things to sort out, as I had never thought about the fact that I might like men instead of women and to tell you the truth most women scare me because of the way they throw themselves at my feet, or subtly try to get my attention, or are as bold as brass and shove their assets in my face. I never know how to deal with them, except to escape as soon as possible. However, it never occurred to me until Ryan that I might like my own sex. Now that I have acknowledged that I like my own-sex better as men are much more straightforward for the most part it was an easy decision."

"That's certainly true," Hotch said and Spencer nodded in agreement.

"So I'm assuming you're to let your apartment go," Spencer asked his brother.

"I hadn't thought that far ahead yet," Andrew admitted, "but now that you mention it, it won't take me long to move to Ryan's place, since it's much easier for me to move then it is for him, since I can Floo or Apparate anywhere I need to go. Besides, Ryan is the one with the government job as a profiler, so needs to live close by for it, as for me on the other hand, it doesn't really matter where I live so long as it's in the same Time Zone since I definitely don't feel like putting up with having to adjust to a different time several times a day."

"So are you two going to stay at your apartment, Ryan?" asked Hotch.

"Well, I admit that my apartment is awfully small for two people," Ryan said. "I suppose that Andrew and I really need to look for some place bigger."

"Perhaps, you can invest in a house," Spencer suggested.

"Why?" asked Ryan. "I mean there's only Andrew and me so a bigger apartment will be fine I would think."

"Because I was thinking that in a few years Andrew might want to do the same thing I did," Spencer explained.

Andrew caught on immediately and flushed a bright red glaring at his brother, while it took Ryan a few seconds longer to understand what Spencer was referring and when he did he also blushed.

"You mean we could do the same thing you and Hotch did," Ryan said. "Have pups naturally through the use of those spells you were telling me about awhile back."

"Yes, that's exactly what I meant," Spencer told the pair with an unrepentant grin. "You don't have to do what Aaron and I did, but I was just thinking you might like to have a few children in a few years, of course. Those spells Addison put on me only work on another wizard and so Ryan couldn't go through the process to have it done, but Andrew could, if the two of you wanted to go that route that is."

"Well, I admit that I wouldn't mind having a few children by Ryan four or five years from now of course," Andrew admitted flushing again and looking somewhat shyly at his mate who looked as if he had been hit over the head with a sledgehammer. "I don't want as many as the two of you had, but I wouldn't mind having 10 or so, which means I should only have to get pregnant twice maybe three times to get that."

"You know it's very possible you'll have sextuplets at least once," Hotch told Andrew with a grin, "If you do decide to go the same route that Spencer and I did, since a wolf Shifter can have anywhere from 1 to 6 at one time, though I admit it's usually 2 to 4."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Ryan blurted out. "Andrew's and my relationship has just begun, so let's give it a few years before we consider doing that. I'm not saying I'm against it or anything, just that I want at least a few years alone with no one, but Andrew, before the two of us even think about going down that road."

"We can discuss it again at a later date," Andrew told Ryan who nodded gratefully.

Andrew didn't say so, but he really did want children, a few years down the road of course, by the man he had come to love in such a short amount of time. He would bring it up again in three or four years,when the two of them had a chance to really settle into their relationship.

"In any case, I don't see any harm in getting a bigger apartment, somewhere that is as much Andrew's, as it is mine decorated to both our tastes," Ryan said changing the subject, causing the other three men to exchange amused glances with each other.

Before either man could reply to that the oven timer buzzed and Spencer rose to go get dinner on the table.

"We should go wash our hands," Andrew said rising immediately from where he was sitting, "since dinner will be on the table in less than five minutes."

Ryan very well knew the routine by now, as he'd had dinner over here quite a few times over the years so rose and headed and headed towards the bathroom Andrew following.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Six months later

A very pregnant Emily walked into the BAU. She and David Rossi had finally gotten married, just three months ago with the whole team in attendance along with all the older children that belonged to various team members, while the younger ones had been left to be watched over by Amelia and her assistants and in fact she had been pregnant, during JJ's pregnancy, as her sextuplets had only been born about five months ago.

Emily was over seven months pregnant, but she and Rossi had been intending to get married much earlier, but other commitments like work kept getting in the way.

Emily really didn't mind being pregnant before the wedding ceremony, as she had wanted to have a few children anyway and she was getting to that age where soon her biological clock would stop and she wouldn't be able to have children, so it was just as well that it was twins, since she was over 35 and having multiples happened a lot of times as a woman biology seemed to speed up, at least when it came to babymaking after that, as if saying if it was time to settle down as it wouldn't be much longer before you can't have children. Emily was hoping to have at least one more after this and if she had another set of twins she wouldn't object, but she knew it would have to be as soon as she had just turned 40.

"So how are you and your twins today?" JJ asked Emily coming out of the office.

"They can't be born soon enough for me," Emily said, "as you should be well aware of considering you have 11 of your own. I have one kicking me in the stomach and the other one jumping on my bladder."

JJ grimaced as she remembered those days very well. "Oh, yes, I remember those days all too well," JJ admitted. "They really weren't to long ago."

"No, only five months or so," Emily teased her. "How are your six children, anyway?"

"Still, a lot of work and they will be for awhile. However, we have quite a lot help thanks to Dario finding several nannies that look after them while we're at work. The three nannies that we hired are Shifters themselves, older ladies whose husband's have passed away, or in one case who never got married at all. In any case, they've been a big help, looking after all 11 of our children including the oldest three who are only six after all. It's also a good thing that Spencer and Hotch gave us that house as a wedding present for Dario and I, even though both of us protested at the time neither one of them would back down so we just had to eventually accept, because we never would have been able to afford such a big place, which might be one of the reasons that Dario and I went overboard when it came to having children."

"Well, you weren't expecting six this last time," Emily pointed out logically.

"No, but Dario and I really should have considering it's quite common, with Shifters and even though I'm not one, as it still happens a lot. Besides, I'm over 35 just like you are and that has something to do with it as well," JJ said.

"Yeah, that's true," Emily admitted. "In any case, I'm looking forward to giving birth to these two."

"Believe me, I understand that," JJ said. "It won't be long now and then you'll have two bundles of joy. So did you and Rossi know what you're having yet? Or do you not care?"

"Yes, we know," Emily admitted

"So are you going to tell me? Are you going let it be a surprise," JJ asked her friend only halfway teasing.

"Alright, fine, it's two sons happy now," Emily told her friend with a smile.

"I'm so happy for you," JJ said flinging her arms around Emily very large stomach and giving her a gentle hug.

"Thank you, Dave and I are pretty chuffed about it, although we were hoping for a daughter," Emily said, "but unfortunately, it's the man's DNA that determines the sex and since Dave did have a son before, neither one of us was really surprised when it turned out to be two boys who hopefully, will be healthy and not die of bad hearts or some other problem just a couple days after they're born."

"You're healthy, Rossi's healthy I really don't think that will happen," JJ said. "Think positively as that will help as I know it did me during that last pregnancy, especially towards the end. Carrying all that extra weight around isn't for sissies. Besides the chances of it happening again are astronomical and medical technology has also improved considerably from what it was back when Rossi's son was born, so I truly don't think you need to worry."

"No, it's not easy to carry one baby, much less two, though I'm certainly glad it's only twins and not as many as you were carrying," Emily said.

"Yes, well for Shifters it's quite normal to have twins or more and Dario and I had everything except quadruplets and quintuplets and there are no guarantees that we wouldn't've had those if I hadn't had my tubes tied, immediately after giving a birth before even leaving the hospital," JJ said. "I was taking no chances of getting pregnant again and some women are especially fertile right after giving birth, especially when breast-feeding so you never know. So are you planning on having anymore after this in another year or so?"

Well, Dave and I would like a girl if at all possible," Emily admitted, "and if I had twins again I wouldn't object, but that would be it as four would more than enough for us to handle."

"You don't have many more fertile years left, but then neither did I," JJ said.

"I know and that's why Dave and I have agreed that I'm going to try to get pregnant again a year after these two are born. Normally I'd like space any children out a little more, but you're right when you say I don't have very many fertile years left and so it's just better to get pregnant again as soon as it's safe to do so. I don't plan on getting pregnant again after the second time though."

"So are you planning on hiring a nanny?" asked JJ thinking that the unexpected could happen like it had to several people she knew. Some of the women she was friends with had gotten pregnant again during nursing even when they swore that they didn't want anymore children. They had just happened, and since none of them had thought about the fact that it could happen while they were still nursing none of them had bothered to take anything to prevent it, so it was very possible that Emily would have a third pregnancy after her second as it happened a lot more to older women more than to younger ones, although it could happen to them to just not as frequently.

"Oh, yes, Dave has had full background checks done on several already and he hasn't found anyone that will meet his high standards as of yet."

"Well, it's better be safe than sorry and both of you have a lot of enemies as do I or anyone on the team," JJ told her friend who nodded soberly.

"Believe me, I know it, which is why I didn't argue when Dave said he was going to do background checks on all potential nannies. Besides, my mother has enemies to and if somebody ever finds out I'm her daughter they might try to get back at her through her grandchildren, so you're right it's better to be safe than sorry."

That was a rather sobering thought, but JJ definitely understood where Emily and Dave were coming from as she felt the same knowing that she was in a rather dangerous profession and someone who put criminals behind bars made enemies pretty easily even if she was usually in the background and not as visible as others on the team. However, that didn't mean she didn't have enemies, and so she was always careful, because she knew very well that those criminals wouldn't care about hurting her husband or her children in order to get to those she loved and in fact they would probably take great delight in killing them right in front of her. She wasn't too worried about Dario, as he could protect himself, but her children on the other hand, could not and she would fight fiercely in order to protect them and she knew Dario would as well.

"It's a shame we have to live so cautiously, but with the profession we're in..." Emily said.

"Oh, trust me, I know," JJ agreed soberly. "As much as we love our work, the criminals we put away certainly don't."

"That's certainly the truth," Emily giggled.

"When are you going on maternity leave?" asked JJ with a raised eyebrow as she stared at her friend's very prominent, pregnant belly.

"Not for at least another month and Dave has been urging me to go ahead and take it," said Emily. "However, you know I'll be bored out of my skull if I stayed home for the last month or two and so I prefer just to be at work, even if I have to stay out of the field. You did the same thing, even though Dario was urging you to take the last couple of months off," Emily said. "We're just not women that do well just staying at home being bored."

"That's the truth," JJ agreed passionately. "We're not the kind to sit and watch the soaps, or to just putter around the house. Puttering around the house is fine for a day or two, but not for a month or more, as I for one would get bored very quickly."

"Me too," Emily agreed. "Both of us are just too active to enjoy being cooped up and even though I like to read it wouldn't keep me entertained for very long. I suppose with my mother's job as an ambassador I'm used to going places and doing things."

"Yes, if you traveled a lot as a child then you would definitely enjoy it and want to do it as an adult," JJ said. "You're not used to staying in one city for more than a few months or year at a time, so I can certainly understand why working at the BAU was the perfect job for you, since we're always off to some different cities to help them with their criminal problem."

The two friends continued to chat for a few minutes before they headed in opposite directions.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

A month and a half later, Emily went into labor right after their current unsub had been caught. Emily, of course, had had to stay behind at the police station, since she wasn't allowed out in the field until after the birth of her twins, which she had understood even if she wasn't happy with it, but it was the only way that Rossi would allow her to continue working until the proverbial last minute and she couldn't even legitimately argue with him, probably because she knew he was right.

Emily didn't argue with Dave or Hotch, as they had both ganged up on her and had told her this was the way it had to be if she wanted to continue working with the team until after her sons births. She had to remember that she had her own life as well as two other lives to protect and she was in no condition to be running after an unsub or be anywhere near the action. The same thing had been told to JJ when she had been pregnant so Emily knew that it wasn't just her. It was only sensible that a pregnant woman stay out of the field, especially when she was, so near to giving birth.

Since Emily was surrounded by cops when she went into labor help arrived quickly and she was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

By the time the unsub had been caught, Emily had been in labor for several hours and Rossi immediately rushed to the hospital to be with his wife. Since this was Emily's first pregnancy, it was taking longer than it often did for later pregnancies and so it was some 16 hours later, 18 altogether before Emily and Dave twin sons finally made an appearance.

Dave had been frantic, but Spencer and Hotch calmed him down and told him that first births often took longer, which Rossi had known thanks to Caroline and his son that had died, so many years ago now as his first wife had been in labor for like 22 hours, but still he loved Emily so much that he had been panicking and not thinking straight.

Finally when Dave was told that his wife and his twin sons were fine he practically collapsed in relief, but he couldn't bear have his heart broken like it had been when his son had died and Caroline had left him 30 years ago.

"Come on, let's go see your sons in the nursery since Emily will be sleeping for awhile longer," JJ told Rossi with a smile putting a sympathetic hand on his arm.

JJ did understand that once you lost a child that fear of losing another one never really left you, which was one of the reasons that Rossi might have been married two other times, but had never had any other children. Some parents never recovered at all from losing one child and so never bothered to try again, which was why it had taken Rossi so long to admit his feelings for one of her best friends.

"Alright," Rossi agreed much more calmly than he had been for the last 16 hours.

"See everything turned out all right," Morgan told the older man who smiled tiredly at him.

"So I did," Rossi said. "I'll admit I was worried."

"Worried?" asked Hotch with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "You were absolutely frantic and you know it. I can't really blame you though, although thousands of healthy babies are born every day all over the world they're is still so much unknown about what causes something to go wrong."

The team minus Garcia, who was back at Quantico arrived at the nursery and Rossi immediately begin looking for his twin sons.

"There they are," Spencer said pointing far down on the front row on the right near the end.

"They're beautiful," JJ cooed, as she gazed at the fraternal Rossi twins.

"Yes, they are," Rossi said with a large grin, as he looked at his son with his eyes full of love and a fierce protectiveness. Here was a man that would do anything to make sure his sons grew up safe and happy. Luckily, he had a lot of help with that task, since the whole team felt the same about each other's children and considered each other one, big family.

"Well, they are definitely fraternal," Hotch said, as he gazed at the twin boys.

"Yes, they are," JJ said, as one had Rossi black hair and the other had Emily's brown, "but then none of us expected them to be identical, although that was possible."

"But not likely," Spencer chipped in. "Identical twins are definitely not common and scientist still haven't discovered what causes a woman's egg to split in two, although it happens more often after they pass thirty-five. Fraternal twins on the other hand, are fairly common especially in the 21st century."

"And what causes fraternal twins genius," Rossi asked with gruff affection in his voice looking away from his handsome sons, both of whom were going to be heartbreakers when they grew up, but then with him and Emily as parents he wasn't very surprised at that.

"Well, around 35 or so, although sometimes it's earlier depending on the female in question, a woman's ovulation speeds up as if telling her that she better go ahead and have children because she doesn't have many more years to do that. In any case, that means that each Fallopian tube releases one egg, although in some cases it's more than that, which can result in triplets or more, sometimes anyway, but only if all the eggs get fertilized. Of course, not all the eggs get fertilized sometimes, or the doctor will hear a second or even a third heartbeat and then months later one or both won't be there and this is called the vanishing twin syndrome, where one or more of them of them is reabsorbed. Sometimes a woman starts out pregnant with triplets or more and then one or more of those fetuses are reabsorbed into those that remain. It is unknown why this happens just that it does and it usually happens more with boys then girls."

Spencer didn't bother to mention that scientist believed at least one in every third pregnancy started out as a twin, although this had yet to be proven.

"So you're saying that if Emily gets pregnant again it's possible she'll have twins the second time," Rossi said.

"Very likely especially now that she's over 40 as twins or more are even more likely, then when you are over 35," Spencer said, "and this is especially true since she's already had twins once, which increases your chances to one in four."

"Well, Emily and I were talking about having another," Rossi mused, "in just another year or two since she's not getting any younger. Both of us really do want at least one daughter and that's definitely what both of us are hoping for next time."

"Well, hopefully, you'll get your wish," JJ commented having already known this thanks to Emily telling her several months ago. Of course, she couldn't really blame either Rossi or Emily as every couple needed at least one of each, even if she knew that sometimes a couple would get all girls or all boys.

"Well, if we get more sons I'll love them to death," Rossi said, "and I might be a little disappointed that I didn't get a daughter to spoil rotten, but I would never ask Emily to go through a third pregnancy, especially not at her age, which is why we were talking about getting pregnant a second time sooner instead of in 3 or 4 years."

"That's probably wise since she's already 40," Spencer said.

"You could always try to adopt daughter if you don't get one," Ryan suggested.

"Well, we'll see, but I doubt very much that Emily and I would be successful in adopting considering our jobs, although it is a possibility, though it's an extremely slim one, since we have to put our names on a waiting list and we might have to wait years, only to be told that we are too old or some such bullshit. We might be able to adopt an older child, like five or six, but I'm still hoping that we get a daughter next time."

"I think your sons are beautiful," Ryan told Rossi gazing at the two little boys who were going to grow up and have the girls fall all over them or follow them around, but that wasn't really surprising considering that Rossi was still a handsome man, even though he was 55 and Emily was a gorgeous woman, so it wasn't really surprising that their children were going to be heartbreakers when they grew up.

"Thank you," Rossi said with a smile. "I think they're very handsome myself."

"Well, I know you and Emily are going to have to stay here for a few days until she's released from the hospital and your pups can come home with you," Hotch said. "I'll fill out the forms for both of you and Emily is on maternity leave for the next couple of weeks anyway and if she wants more time than that just let me know. Actually, Cruz has been expecting her to take maternity leave for a month or so now and when she didn't he asked me about it."

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on whether you liked Strauss or hated her she had been killed several years ago in an explosion. A bomb had been placed in her car and when she had started the engine it had gone kaboom with her inside. There hadn't been much of Strauss left as she had been blown into chunk sized pieces as well as many smaller ones.

"And what did you tell him," Rossi asked with sparkling brown eyes filled with humor.

"The truth," Hotch said with a half smile, "and that was Emily wasn't the type to go on maternity leave until she absolutely had to and neither was JJ, which is why she never went on maternity leave either until she actually went into labor."

"At least Emily's recovery will be faster than mine was because she didn't have to have a c-section," JJ said. "I had to stay home for six weeks to give the incisions time to heal, while Emily gave birth naturally since it was only twins, so she should recover faster."

"I'm going to try to convince her to take at least a month off," Rossi said, "but I might not be successful in that, since we all know that Emily can be extremely stubborn and want get back to work as soon as possible even if leaving her children with the nanny that we finally found is going to be hard at first."

"For both of you," Ryan said with certainty.

Rossi looked at Ryan and nodded decisively, "Yes, for me to and I'll probably end up calling the nanny at least a dozen times a day."

"Oh, Emily will definitely do that," JJ said laughing. "So this nanny you finally found, who is she?" asked JJ next as she hadn't known this piece of information as Emily hadn't said anything.

"She's an older lady, a few years younger then I am, whose children are all grown. She's divorced since her husband was a rather abusive asshole. I did a very thorough background check on her just to make sure that she was who she said she was you know. She knows how to take care of children, but is uninterested in any relationships and considering how her husband treated her I can't really blame her for that. In any case, her name is Inga and Emily and I are both certain that she'll be perfect as we both interviewed her separately and together since we both see things in different ways and pick up different things about a person's behavior. We both agreed that she was perfect for the job and since we are profilers and therefore, fairly observant it would be very hard to fool both of us."

"Yes, I have to agree," Hotch said with a nod. "It should be nearly impossible for both you and Emily to be fooled, unless she was an expert liar and even then it probably wouldn't work, so it's very likely that this Inga is exactly who she says she is and just wants some children to look after since hers are all grown."

"Well, I'm going to go see Emily as she should be awake now," Rossi said. "You can all come in and say hello if you want, although she'll probably still be drowsy from the drugs she was given or you can come by tomorrow before you leave for home."

"We'll come in and say hello and I'll tell her we'll see her back in Quantico in a few days as we probably won't have a chance to do it tomorrow since we'll probably leave early, before visiting hours begin," Hotch decided. "Congratulations Dave, you are a lucky man. A gorgeous wife and two handsome sons."

"Thank you, Aaron and yes, I have to agree, I am a lucky man. I'm grateful that I was given yet another chance at love and to have a family, even if it took me over 30 years," Rossi agreed.

"So have you decided on names?" asked Morgan who had been mostly silent, although he had taken numerous pictures with his phone to send to Penelope.

"Well, one we are going to name Matthew after the close friend she lost on that case a few years ago, though we'll probably end up calling him Matt as a nickname. As for the other we thought we'd use my middle name Stephen and probably end up shortening it to Steve."

"That's so sweet," JJ cooed.

"Yes, well, Matthew was practically her brother and she has never really gotten over the fact that she couldn't save him," Rossi said. "She still occasionally has nightmares about that time."

"Some things affect us more deeply then others," Reid said. "All of us have ghosts in our pasts. Mine is when mom was killed in that car accident when I was 17 and then my dad committing suicide less then a year later."

"Mine is when my father was killed, in a convenience store robbery when I was 12," Morgan said.

The group of them got on the elevator and traveled down several floors to where Emily's room was located and after everyone had congratulated the new mother, they all left except for Rossi who stayed at his wife's side just looking at her gorgeous face and talking to her quietly until she drifted off to sleep again totally exhausted, which she had every right to be considering that she had just been through 18 hours of labor. How any woman could go through that amount of pain even once, much less more then once was to Rossi a miracle and in some ways made women stronger then any mere man.

Rossi sat by her bedside refusing to leave, even when visiting hours were over and his badge helped him with that, so a cot was brought for him to sleep on and that was how he spent the rest of the night, sleeping peacefully beside his wife.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Those twins of Dave's are adorable," Spencer said.

"Yes, they are," Hotch agreed with a smile, "but of course, it's that Italian blood as I can't see any baby born to either Dave or Emily for that matter being ugly, like some infants are when they are first born. I've seen some ugly or just plain babies in my time, trust me."

"Yeah, me to," Spencer agreed, "but after they grow up they usually turn out either pretty or handsome. Dave's and Emily's twins though are gorgeous and they'll soon be beating off the little girls with club's just like I'm sure Dave did when he was a child."

"I think ours are gorgeous as well," Hotch said, "and I'm not just saying that because I'm their father and therefore, naturally prejudiced."

"Well, since most of them got your dark good looks, of course, they are some of the most gorgeous children I have ever seen," Spencer said.

"I wasn't just referring to the ones that look the most like me, but to the ones that got your looks more than mine, even if they have black hair six of them look almost exactly like you probably did as a child, eight or so look like a combination of us both of us and yes, the remaining eight do look the most like me, with your eyes or nose or chin," Hotch said rolling his eyes for this was not the first disparaging comment that Spencer had made about the way he looked and he knew it was because his mate had likely overheard some of the women that worked either at the BAU or in the building commenting how they couldn't understand how he could really be with someone like Spencer Reid, as he was so plain in comparison to his dark good looks, since he had heard the same on more than one occasion over the years. Some women just couldn't help gossiping maliciously about other people or men for that matter. Where these insecurities had come from considering that Spencer had never made such comments before joining the bureau, Hotch didn't know, but he did know he wanted it to stop. He thought his mate was the most handsome of men, although he realised he was biased, but even if he hadn't had the mate bond he would still have thought Spencer was handsome. Besides, if the way that some women tried to get his attention was any indication they to believed he was a handsome man, so it wasn't just him that thought that.

"You need to stop making these disparaging comments about your looks," Hotch told him sternly. "You need to stop taking what other people say about you and me to heart. I have never given you any reason to believe that I think you are anything, but handsome and I am definitely not interested in anybody else. You know how some woman talk and how they can't help but criticize others, that doesn't mean you have to listen."

"I didn't realize I was," Spencer said quietly after a long silence. "I didn't realize I was doing anything like that."

"Well, you are and you've been doing it for a couple of years now. You need to stop paying attention to gossip as people can't help, but be negative as I know you realize that they are just jealous because they see how happy we both are together and they want what we have. They likely don't think about what they are saying or bother to think about who they are hurting with their crass behavior and they likely wouldn't care even if they did realize."

"I'll stop," Spencer promised. "I truly didn't realize what I was doing. I suppose that I just hear what those women are saying, even if I'm not really paying attention, but it still enters my subconscious, where I suppose it comes up in conversation."

Hotch now felt better that he knew that Spencer really hadn't realized what he had been doing and it was very possible to pick parts of conversations from people talking, even if you weren't really paying attention and while most people would forget those little tidbits of conversation Spencer's memory was eidetic and his subconscious would remember even if he didn't consciously recall paying attention to what was being talked about.

"I'm glad you didn't realize what you were saying or that you were picking up the comments that those people at the BAU who do not care who they hurt with their gossip. I thought you truly felt that way and it made me mad, but I haven't had a chance to talk you about it before now, since you didn't do it too often, just every once in awhile," Hotch said.

"No, don't really think that way," Spencer assured him. "We've been together too many years for those gossiping biddies to truly make an impact on me, as I know very well how you really feel about me as you show me every day. I really don't care what they think, as people will gossip regardless of whether you're with me or if you were with some female and they likely figure no one is good enough for you except themselves, of course. People will always want what others have and I know that."

"Well, good," Hotch said relieved.

"I'm sorry I didn't realize I was doing it or I would've stopped it," Spencer said, kissing his mate's cheek.

"It's okay," Hotch said pulling his mate a little closer to him.

Spencer for his part simply reveled in his mate's high body heat. They didn't even need the heater on those cold winter nights because all he had to do was cuddle up to his mate's side and he was toasty warm, only needing a light blanket.

"In any case, to change the subject I think Emily will be pregnant again, probably in another year, just like Dave said because she's not getting any younger and pregnancies are harder on older women more than younger ones. Of course, it helps that Emily in great shape, as a lot of older women let themselves go."

"40 really isn't all that old," Hotch pointed out.

"It is from the perspective of having children," Spencer told his mate who nodded, "but you're right otherwise Emily is quite young."

"Humans can live to be over hundred now," Hotch said, "even though I know that doesn't happen very often."

"Yes, both magical folks and Shifters live longer than humans, although that will change as technology improves and it won't be very long before humans to live in 150 years or more naturally."

"So next time Emily is pregnant what do you think she'll have just a singleton? Or twins again?" asked Hotch changing the subject.

"Well, it's very possible she will have twins again since her chances increase because she's already had them once, not to mention she's over 40. I would say the odds are somewhere like 70/30 with the 70% of course, being the possibility of her having twins twice in a row. Having twins twice back to back has happened to other women in the past, although it's not exactly common. However, it is more common today than it was years ago, mostly because of fertility drugs. However, years ago women had children while they were young, like before they reached their mid-30s, so that was one of the reasons not as many twins and other multiples were born. Now however, more women are getting pregnant past 35 and some even into their late 40s, which is the main reason that the percentage of twins and even triplets being born naturally has gone up considerably."

"So because Emily is past 40 the likelihood of her having twins again is rather high," Hotch concluded and Spencer nodded

"Not as many women got pregnant up until about 1980 after they reached 40, but that's been increasing since then. Of course, part of that is that technology has improved, so there's not as much risk being pregnant that late in a woman's life. Things can still go wrong of course, but the percentage of women living through a multiple birth once they reach a certain age has gone up considerably in the last 30 years. C-sections of course, are now common, even with twins."

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see if Dave and Emily do not get pregnant with twins again," Hotch smirked as he thought about the possibility. "I never imagined that Dave would ever marry some woman he truly loves not to mention have twins with the possibility of another set. Yes, he's been married three times before this, but no children after his son with his first wife Caroline died of a bad heart."

"Yes, what happened to Dave's son years ago was a tragedy, I'm not saying it wasn't or that it doesn't still happen today with Shifters, Normals or magical babies, but although it was a tragedy and I realize that most people don't want to have anymore children after such an event, you can't let such a thing as losing your child stop you from trying again like Rossi did for so many years. Yes, you should grieve for the child you lost, but then you should try again," Spencer lectured.

"If some of our children had died, after they were born would you have tried again?" asked Hotch, surprised at the conviction and his mate's voice, causing him to wonder what sort of tragedy there was in Spencer's past to make him feel this way.

"Yes," Spencer said firmly. "I'm not saying I wouldn't have been devastated, just as any parent would feel at losing a child, but even if it took me a few years I would want to try again. I'm not saying I would forget the child I lost and I'm sure I would visit their grave frequently, but after a few years I would try again, just so long as I was married to someone I loved. I would not try to get my wife or whatever pregnant right away, as we would both need time to grieve for our loss and I wouldn't want our son or daughter to think they were some kind of rebound baby. You know like you lose one child and then you immediately try to get pregnant again instead of waiting and grieving properly."

"So personal experience?" asked Hotch teasingly since he knew very well that Spencer had never been with anybody but him as he had been a virgin before they met.

"No," Spencer told Hotch with a grin, "you know perfectly well I was a virgin before I met you."

"Yes, I do, so where is all this passion coming from then?" asked Hotch.

"My grandparents," Spencer offered. "They lost a child, before my Uncle Cole was born due to a bad heart, just like what happened to Dave and then they lost Uncle Cole when he was around 14 years old. However, they weren't planning on having anymore children after their son died a few days after he was born, but then they got pregnant again about three years later and despite saying that they didn't want anymore children after losing their first son after just a few days and before he even had a chance to grow up. They were overjoyed when Uncle Cole was born healthy, but devastated when he got himself killed."

"I would be too," Hotch said, as he tried not to think about losing any of his sons and daughters, who both he and Spencer spent a great deal of time with when they were home, dying due to some sort of medical problem. "Losing one child would be hard enough, but if that was due to a medical reason, which sometimes just happen for no explicit reason I would grieve then try again. However, losing their other son would be devastating, especially since he was only 14 and because he got himself killed and not because there was some sort of health problem, like with their first son."

"It did," Spencer admitted, "and they were never quite the same after that. The two of them should have lived many more years, but they died at a young age at least by wizarding standards. They lived long enough to see most of their daughter's children born, although not Hudson or Bronwyn, but then they passed quietly away and it was as if they couldn't bear to go on living."

"That happens sometimes," Hotch said, "unfortunately. A lot of parents have just quietly wasted away after losing a child and to lose two, well, I know that would positively devastate me, although if one of them died due to some sort of health problem after they were born I would grieve, but I would understand that sometimes it happens, but to lose a perfectly healthy son who is only 14 because of stupidity or something similar would be much worse, I don't blame your grandparents a bit for not being able to take that heartache a second time. Some people just aren't strong enough to take the death of a child and take it much harder than others do."

"I know, but it made me even more determined to not be the same way as they were since I had my siblings to think of. Yes, I would grieve as I said earlier, but I would not let it depress me to the point that I just quietly died of a broken heart. I truly wish that what happened to the uncles I never knew hadn't occurred, but there're some things that even as advanced as our medicine is can't fix. We can heal broken bones in just a few minutes, we can even regrow bones if it's necessary to do so, like if it's shattered into many pieces, but fixing something like a bad heart we can't do."

"You can't fix everything, even with magic," Hotch told Spencer tenderly kissing the top of his head. "I'm truly sorry for what happened to your grandparents, even though I never met them or your own parents."

"Thanks," Spencer said with a rather sad smile.

"I didn't realize that there was this sort of tragedy in your past, well, besides, your parents deaths of course," Hotch said.

"I wasn't keeping it from your anything it never came up as I hadn't thought about it in many years, since to me it's just a story, as I never actually met either uncle," Spencer offered. "I'm not saying it's not a tragedy, just that it didn't affect me personally, just my grandparents and my mother."

"I know that," Hotch promised him. "Besides, no matter how well you think you know someone there's always things you never know about a person no matter how long they have been together. Everybody has some secrets or something about their past that they never tell anyone. I certainly have things about my past that I've never told anybody and so do most other people. There is tragedy in everybody's family somewhere, even if it happened a hundred years ago or more."

The two men fell silent and simply cuddled together not needing to fill the air with words.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	19. Chapter 19

10 months later

"You're pregnant again? So soon?" Garcia asked her friend in astonishment. "I thought you were going to wait at least a year?"

"Dave and I were," Emily answered, "but with our busy schedules either I forgot to take my pregnancy pills, or I took one to late. It's possible I didn't take one, because I was mistaken about the fact that I already had or that I still got pregnant even if I didn't forget one since they are not always effective. Who knows when or how it happened, but Dave and I are very happy about this pregnancy, even if we were planning on waiting a few more months."

"Yes, that could happen, especially with how busy we are," Garcia admitted. "So how far along are you?"

"Just a couple of months," Emily answered.

"So that means you got pregnant about eight months after the birth of Matt and Steve," Garcia said.

"About that, yes," Emily agreed.

"So do you know if it's twins again, or just a singleton?" asked Garcia.

"Not yet, but considering my severe morning sickness, neither Dave or I will be surprised if it is twins again."

"Yeah, your morning sickness can be much worse when your carrying multiples," Garcia agreed, "as both JJ and I know from experience, but then I'm a Shifter and JJ is married to one so having multiples is perfectly normal."

"Then how do you explain me having twins?" Emily asked teasingly.

"Your age is a factor," Garcia told her friend seriously who nodded, "also your height. Since you're above average height that's also a factor. Why being over a certain age or taller than average matters I don't know, just that it does."

"Well, the doctor warned both Dave and I that it was very possible I would have at least twins again and that it was over a 90% probability, because of the fact that I already had them once, my age and my height was also a factor just as you mentioned," Emily told her friend. "Of course, the doctor also mentioned that it was possible I would have triplets or quadruplets as well and considering my age it is very possible, more possible than someone having that many when they're young or never had twins before. Someone who isn't a Shifter," Emily added, "since their biology is a little different and most the times they have multiples no matter what age they are when they find their True Mate or just get married. When you are a Normal like me and like Dave having multiples is only common when the woman is over 35, although it's happened before then of course."

"So what will you and Dave do if it happens to be triplets?" asked Garcia with a grin.

"Well, for one thing I'm planning on having my tubes tied immediately," Emily told Garcia who nodded having expected nothing less, "and if we do end up with triplets or even quadruplets I'll be happy so long as they are healthy and Dave will be to. You know how Dave is and he will take this as a sign of how virile he is despite being in his late 50s."

"Well, he is," Garcia giggled, "but the woman has a lot to do with it to. First of all a woman has to be able to still have children and then she has to be fertile, as some women have trouble getting pregnant, although that's mostly Normals and sometimes magicals, so having children is as much a woman's prerogative as it is a man's, though I know that some men don't believe that."

"Yes, I agree, that some women are just really fertile while others never get pregnant no matter how much they may want to," Emily immediately agreed. "What causes some women to be barren or at least infertile I don't know, although I know sometimes it's a medical condition, but other times there is no logical explanation."

"Which is not true in your case," Garcia said patting and Emily still flat stomach.

"No, it's not," Emily agreed. "My mother was overjoyed when she found out I was pregnant for the second time, although at first she wondered why I hadn't done anything to prevent it at least until I told her I had, but that pregnancy pills aren't 100% effective and that this was as unexpected for Dave and me as it was for her. I also told her I planned on having my tubes tied immediately after this one if it was at least twins. Of course, I didn't bother to tell her that I might have forgotten to take one."

"Well, at least your mother has come around as you told me she wasn't too happy to find out that you were marrying David Rossi," Garcia pointed out.

"Boy wasn't she," Emily muttered remembering the fierce argument. "She's lucky I told her before the deed was done. I had to remind her that I was 40 and responsible for my own decisions and that she had no control over who I decided I loved or married. She did talk to me and pointedly ignored Dave, until after the twins were born, so we're just now starting to mend our relationship. I knew she likely wouldn't be happy, since Dave is about 15 years older than I am and used to be a ladies man, but women marry older men and vice versa all the time and it was what both of us wanted, so I don't know what the big deal was. It's not like it's taboo and most people won't even blink when they find out that a woman is married to an older man, since it's very common nowadays and I'm not just talking about five or six years older, but much older."

"Yes, people don't think anything of a younger woman married in older man nowadays," Garcia agreed. "I'm glad that your mother has come around."

"Well, it was the boys that did it," Emily said with a grin. "She loves her grandchildren to death and is already starting to spoil them rotten."

"So when do you find out if you're carrying twins or not?" asked Garcia.

"I'm having an ultrasound in just a couple of weeks," Emily said, "since the doctor estimates that I'm around two months along, he should be able hear the fetal heartbeat and if there's more than one. Of course, it's possible to conceal a third or even a fourth heartbeat behind the others so that we all might still be taken by surprise when they're actually born or it's possible that the doctor will be able to tell later in the pregnancy if I'm having more than two. As you know there are a lot of different factors, when it comes to carrying multiples."

"Yes, I do," Garcia agreed with a nod. "I well remember how Derek and I believed that we were having triplets the second time and it turned out to be quadruplets. It wasn't that we weren't happy that we were getting one more cub to love just that we were shocked."

"I would be to if I wasn't expecting it," Emily said. "Anybody would be, since most people don't expect the unexpected like having twins for the first time, especially if you're not a Shifter."

"Yes, that's true," Garcia said.

The two women giggled and continue to chat for a few minutes as they both ate their lunches happily before having to get back to work.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Triplets?" asked Dave in a shocked tone of voice. "Are you sure it's triplets?"

Rossi and Emily were at the doctors office for their appointment to find out if they were carrying twins again only to find out that the doctor heard three distinct heartbeats, Instead of the two that both were expecting.

"Yes, I'm sure as I heard three distinct heartbeats, not just the two we were all expecting," The doctor assured Rossi calmly understanding the shock that both he and Emily were feeling.

"I was prepared to hear it was twins again, but to find out is three instead of two..." Emily said finally speaking. "I mean, I knew was possible, both of us did, but I just thought that it's probably just twins again right since the likelihood of having more than twins even with my age being a factor were very high, right?"

"Well, your odds do go up since you do already had one set of twins," Dr. Smith told the Rossis, "and you're age is also a factor as you already know, so it was very possible that you would have more then another set of twins and in this case it's triplets, although I know you're aware that there could be a fourth baby in your womb that's heartbeat is being hidden behind those of his siblings."

"So if we get another scan and say a month, will you be able to tell?" asked Rossi now.

"Possibly," the doctor admitted cautiously, "because though an ultrasound is good for many things like detecting the sex of the baby you're carrying or how many you are going to have it's not perfect, since one baby can hide behind another, so unless one of them shifts position, so we can see behind them you might still be in for a surprise when it comes time to give birth. Of course, it's also very possible that it's just triplets and there is no extra baby, but at this point there's really no way to tell."

"Thank you for being honest, doctor," Rossi said shaking the man's hand. "We'll make sure to schedule another appointment."

"Good, because I would like to see Emily every month, until it's time for her to give birth and since it is triplets this time, I would like you to consider having a c-section done because the odds of having all three babies facing the proper direction, which is head down, well, aren't good," Dr. Smith warned them.

"I'll do it," Emily decided. "I'm not going to like being off for the 6 to 8 weeks it takes for the incisions that heal though, but if it means Dave's and my children will be born healthy then I'm willing to do it."

"You didn't want to do that last time," Rossi pointed out.

"Yes, well last time it was just twins," Emily told Dave who nodded. "Twins are born naturally all the time, but my doctor was prepared to take me into surgery for an emergency c-section if one of them hadn't been facing the proper direction, but as we both know that wasn't necessary, but with triplets it's different, because although a small percentage of them are born naturally most of them are done by cesarean section."

"You sure do seem to know a lot about it," Dr. Smith said obviously amused.

"You can thank our teammate Dr. Spencer Reid for that," Rossi told the man. "Reid is a genius and when he found out JJ was pregnant a few years back, with triplets, let's just say he went into research mode just in case JJ went into labor in the field."

"Ah, so you have a medical doctor on your team?" asked Dr. Smith. "That must come in handy."

"He's not a medical doctor, although he does have several degrees," Emily told Dr. Smith. "He has ones, in psychology, engineering, mathematics, chemistry and several others, but as Dave said he's a genius and he would've been able to help JJ or me for that matter if either of us had gone into labor in the field, at least until help arrived. He never forgets anything he reads as his memory is eidetic."

Dr. Smith was amazed that any one person could get so many college degrees and asked, "So how old is this teammate of yours?"

"Well, he's a little bit younger than me," Emily said thinking about it. "What is he 33? 34?"

"Actually I believe he's 35 now," Rossi said nearly smirking at the doctor's stunned expression.

Dr. Smith stared at his patients and wondered how one person could get so many degrees, although Rossi had said that the man was a genius and he would have to be to have at least 4 degrees and Emily had mentioned several more.

"I would like to see you back in a month, so you can make an appointment with the receptionist," Dr. Smith said changing the subject and Emily and Dave both nearly smirked this time, because both know that not many people were as accomplished as their Dr. Reid and so it was perfectly normal for other people to be shocked when they found out how many degrees Spencer had.

"We'll do that," Emily promised as she and Dave left the exam room.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"You don't seem really surprised that Emily's carrying triplets," Hotch said to Spencer making his question a statement.

"Probably because I was halfway expecting it," Spencer told Hotch.

The whole team had just found out from Dave and Emily that instead of the twins they were expecting it was triplets, with the possibility of it being quadruplets.

"Why were you expecting it?" asked Hotch curiously.

"Because I've read every single bit of information I can find on multiple pregnancies," Spencer begin to explain, "and I knew that because Emily was over 40 and because she'd had twins one time already and less then a year ago at that, that the odds went up for her to have twins or more. Also I knew because she was above average height that it was very possible that she would end up carrying at least twins again, but I suspected that it would be more than that, simply because of all the factors involved. Emily has a lot going for her, when it comes having children simply because she's reaching that stage in her life where multiples are more common and not just twins either. Women over 40 tend to have more then twins a lot of times like triplets or quadruplets."

"Yes, I see what you mean," Hotch said slowly. "I never thought about it quite like that, although mostly I don't think about Emily's age even if she is over 40, it usually doesn't occur to me that she's getting to that point in her life that she needed to have a few children if she wanted to before she couldn't anymore because of her age."

"Well, I would say she got her wish," Spencer said with a grin, "I know she was afraid for a long time that she wouldn't have children before she was too old and now she's going to have at least five and possibly six, so I would say that that puts her biological imperative to rest."

"Oh, you mean the biological imperative to reproduce, before it's too late to do so," Hotch said immediately catching on.

"Yes, and also the fact that I've known for years that Emily wanted a few children, although I doubt very much that she thought she would have five and possibly six."

"Well, if she wasn't married to, Dave, she likely would have stopped with her twins," Hotch said, "since pups can be pretty expensive to raise."

"I'm just glad she finally got over her crush on you," Spencer said out of the blue.

"You were aware of that," Hotch said immediately flushing a very unusual event for him since Aaron Hotchner very rarely got embarrassed, but Emily's crush had been pretty obvious to everyone on the team, although it had never been verbally acknowledged, and Prentiss had never made any moves on him in that direction, even if she'd had that crush. She probably only hadn't because she'd figured that he would find a way to legally move her to another department without giving her choice in the matter if she had tried anything it all, but luckily, she was smart enough to realize that there was no hope of a relationship with him and so had just ignored her crush and worked with him smoothly. Hotch had been glad to see her develop true feelings for his old friend Dave and therefore and to get over her crush on him. Now the two of them were married and had twins with at least triplets on the way and Hotch couldn't be happier for them.

"Oh, yes," Spencer said. "She wasn't very subtle about it if you want to know the truth and I was around her enough to know that she had a major crush on you, but since she never did anything about it I just let it be. I never had any doubt of your loyalty to me, but I was afraid she would try something and you would have her transferred to another department just to avoid problems. I think she finally decided after we told the team about what happens to people who go after a Shifter's mate that she wasn't going to try to do anything."

"Yes, I knew about the crush," Hotch admitted sheepishly, "and I was very glad when she started to develop feelings for Dave and got over her crush on me. There's is no way in hell that I would've had a affair with her and I definitely wouldn't have divorced you just to have a relationship with her."

"If divorce was possible," Spencer said with a smile as he cuddled into his mate's side enjoying the heat that Aaron radiated.

"You knew what I meant," Hotch said accusingly. "If our relationship was normal, where divorce was an option."

"Yes, I knew what you meant, I was just teasing you a little," Spencer admitted kissing Aaron on the cheek in apology. "In any case, Emily is a smart woman and once she saw that there was no chance of a relationship between you and her or the chance of coming between us she gave up, instead of pursuing it, which was the intelligent and right decision. Besides, crushes never last and although it might have developed into love if you had given her any encouragement, but you didn't and therefore, she eventually got over it and started to fall for Dave, which I thought was very healthy mostly because he was unattached at that time. Besides, I think she and Dave go together personalitywise, as they have a lot in common, even if he is 15 or so years older than she is."

"Yes, it was extremely healthy for her to develop feelings for someone that wasn't already taken," Hotch said, "and I for one was glad to see it happen."

"I know it couldn't have been comfortable for you to work with her when you knew she had that crush on you," Spencer said sympathetically.

"Well, I just mostly ignored those feelings and the looks she used to shoot me when she thought no one else was looking. Once you joined the team, those looks stopped and I was certainly glad of it," Hotch said.

"She probably stopped, because she knew that I would notice, since I'm always very attuned to anything that happens around you, just as you are me. She probably thought that nobody knew about her crush, but if she wasn't aware that the whole team knew then she needs to work on her profiling skills."

"Sometimes when it's personal we tend to miss the little clues," Hotch said.

"In any case, now that she's gotten over that massive crush on you she's become an even better friend than she was before. Both of us were just a little bit cautious around her before, because of that crush since we didn't want to encourage her to try to come between us. Now that she's married to Dave though we can relax," Spencer said.

"Yes, as you said she and Dave are well-suited and I always thought so. I knew that Dave was falling in love with her long before she got over her crush on me, so I'm glad things worked out, as they did and she fell for him in return, even if it took a long time to happen," Hotch said.

"At least it did though and this means that not only can you work together, but you can socialize outside of work with her and Dave or the team, without the risk of her trying to get you alone," Spencer said.

"I doubt very much that she would have ever actually done something like that, as then we wouldn't have been able to work together, not with that hanging between us and crush or not Emily is to smart to risk her career over it, especially when she knew I would rebuff her effects, since I was permanently involved with someone else. If I had been unattached and not a Shifter something may have possibly happened between us, as I could have fallen for her easily if I was just a Normal without a Shifter's ability to imprint, but since I am and I had already been mated for quite a few years before she joined the team I'm glad that she never actually did anything," Hotch said.

"Alright, you're right," Spencer admitted. "You can at least relax more than you could before when in a social setting."

"Why do you think I never joined the team at whatever bar they chose, unless you weren't working and could come to. I might enjoy a beer as much as the next guy, but I would never put myself in such a situation as to go somewhere with the team where some female would try to get my attention and even if I told them I was married it wouldn't necessarily stop some of them and I know you know I'm not talking about Emily. I'm talking the kind of females that tend to hang out in bars, but don't have as much sense as she does. Of course, they try to get Morgan's attention to, even when he displays his wedding band just like I do, and while some woman back off from a married man a lot do not, but as has already been stated some don't consider a married man to be off limits, which is why so many marriages are rocky or end in divorce, since many men respond to those woman's advances or a woman to a man's. Some couples just get so involved in their lives or just don't care that they don't bother to keep the common ground that made them fall in love in the first place, which is also why so many marriages are like they are," Hotch said.

"Yes, there is a more divorce in this country then there should be," Spencer agreed, "I won't bother to give you the stats as there is no point as humans will be contrary and a large percentage don't having the staying power to stick it out when things get a little rocky."

"No, marriages take work in order to maintain," Hotch agreed, "as even mates can grow apart, if they don't work to maintain that relationship and although there is no such thing as a divorce for True Mates, that doesn't mean that some are as close to each other as they could be as even in a marriage where the two were made for each other takes work in order to maintain that closeness. Even True Mates can get caught up in their everyday lives, but some event usually pulls them back and makes him realize that they've been so caught up that they're not as close to their mate as they should be. Even True Mates can grow apart if they let themselves, which does happen sometimes."

"We haven't," Spencer said. "We haven't even had very many rocky patches."

"Yes, well both of us work to maintain our relationship," Hotch reminded his mate. "We go out on dates, make reservations to a nice dinner, even if we sometimes have to cancel at the last minute, we never forget birthdays, anniversaries or Valentine's Day, so in other words, despite the fact that we're gone so much for work we try our best to have personal lives outside the work arena, even if it doesn't always go as planned."

"We don't ever stop trying to go out on dates, which helps, even if we have to cancel at the last minute, because it's the thought that counts," Spencer agreed. "The fact that we are together more now than we were for the first nearly 12 years helps to since we don't ever sleep apart anymore and are together constantly, even if we are working for a lot of those hours and can't let our relationship be obvious while we are."

"Of course, some people have figured it out," Hotch said, as he smirked remembering one particular incident.

"What's causing you to smirk so evilly?" asked Spencer.

"I was just remembering that case in Georgia last year and that female officer that kept trying to come between us."

"Oh, her," Spencer said his tone dripping with contempt and derision.

"I thought that was a very sweet punch that you delivered to her perfect face," Hotch said snickering. "You know me, normally, I would have stopped you from even thinking about hitting someone, but in that case it was more than deserved, since she wouldn't take the very obvious hints or the way I fobbed her off several times."

"Yes, believe me, I remember every detail on how you did your best to be polite, but discourage her and how she didn't take the hint. It was obvious from the beginning that she joined the police force just to try to get a husband and not to protect and serve. She must have had the brains of a gnat, to go not only after a Shifter that was already mated, but a federal officer to boot."

"Well, some people don't believe that Shifters have only one person meant for them and I don't blame them, since they don't have the same ability to imprint, I'm not saying it's right when a person won't take a hint, just that it's not easy to believe in such a thing as soulmates when Normals don't have the same thing, as it's always someone who is not a Shifter that tries to go after one of our kind whether they are already mated or not."

"I know," Spencer said quietly, "believe me, I've read every single fact I could find about Shifters and although certain details vary between species, certain basic facts remain the same."

The two fell silent and just cuddled together enjoying each other's company without having to say word.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"They're absolutely adorable," Spencer told Emily as he held one of her newest sons.

Emily and Dave had indeed had quadruples just as Spencer had said was a very strong possibility, when Hotch had asked him why he hadn't seem surprised when the team had learned and it was triplets and the Rossis had been lucky as they'd had two girls as well as two boys, nonidentical and since both had been hoping for at least one girl and they had gotten two they felt very blessed.

"We certainly think so," Emily said.

It was the day after the quads births as the team hadn't wanted to bother Emily, while she was still under anesthesia as she had immediately been taken in for an emergency c-section, as she had gone into labor right in the office because she'd insisted on at least coming in and at least doing the paperwork.

"And at least you got a couple of girls this time like you wanted," Hotch added holding his new goddaughter.

"Yes, Emily and I are happy about that," Rossi agreed with a grin. "I never even expected to have one child not after I lost my son decades ago, just days after he was born and yet here I have six."

"And it will be my last pregnancy as I plan on having my tubes tied immediately before I leave the hospital, because I have to take six weeks off to recover from my operation anyway, so I might as well get the second operation out of the way, so I don't have to take anymore time off."

"Six is more than enough for me," Rossi said by way of agreement. "I mean I wanted three or four tops and when we thought it was twins again that would've been perfect, but we got two extra which is fine too, but more than enough for us to handle."

"Well, you're lucky that you only had to get pregnant twice to get the family wanted," Spencer commented as he cradled his godson in one elbow and gave him a kiss on his tiny forehead.

"So have you thought of names?" Hotch asked.

"Well, the girls were easy," Emily said, "and we agreed on Rosalie after Dave's mother and Jennifer after our own JJ."

"JJ will be pleased," Spencer said with a smile.

"Well, we'll likely call them Rosa and Jenny, as we wouldn't want Jennifer to get confused with the woman she's named for."

"What about middle names?" asked Hotch.

"Well, we decided that Rosa's middle name would be Elizabeth after my mother and Jenny's middle name would be Penelope after our own Penelope Garcia Morgan."

"Well, you certainly picked some great names," Spencer said, "and I know Garcia will be pleased to."

"We thought the names were perfect," Rossi said, as he held one of his daughter's gently. "I mean we all love JJ and Garcia and so we wanted their names to live on in our family."

"Both of them will be over the moon and you know it. They'll be happy that you think the enough of them to give your two daughters their names, even if it's only the middle ones," Hotch said with a smile being able to predict Garcia and JJ's happiness and enthusiasm with ease, since he know both women extremely well.

"So what about your sons? What have you decided on for names?" asked Spencer.

"Well, that was harder," Rossi admitted. "I mean there're so many good boys names that it was hard to pick just four of them, but finally we came to an agreement."

"We decided on Gregory Aaron after my father and of course, a certain former federal prosecutor I know for the oldest and for the other we agreed on Trenton Spencer."

"You didn't need to name your two sons after us," Spencer protested feeling flattered.

"We wanted to," Emily told him. "Aaron is nice biblical, traditional and is very common, so we could've just picked it and because it was a good name and we could've picked Spencer for Spencer Tracy you know," Emily added with a wink.

Spencer looked flustered, but also flattered.

"They're great names," Hotch said, as he ran a gentle finger down his goddaughter's cheek and watched as she woke up and yawned and looked up at him trustingly. "Congratulations, you both have a wonderful family."

"Yes, we're very lucky," Emily agreed as she cradled the last baby in her arms. "I never imagined in a million years I'd have so many children. I figured one, possibly two and then that would be it, but to have six is beyond my wildest dreams."

The four of them continued to chat for a few minutes, before Hotch and Spencer took their leave, so that Emily could get some more sleep while she could, since she wouldn't be getting very much for the foreseeable future.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Two years later

"Ryan," Andrew began as the two of them lay in their king sized bed after just had a major lovemaking session.

"Yes," Ryan murmured sounding half asleep, probably because him and his mate had been fucking each other senseless and acting like crazed rabbits for hours and both of them had had so many strong climaxes apiece that they had lost count. The wolf in Ryan's chest was simply laying down feeling immensely smug and content his desire for his mate satisfied for the moment, though the human part of Ryan knew that wouldn't last, but for now he was happy to just cuddle up next to Andrew and breathe in his scent by burying his nose in his mate's neck.

"I think it's time," Andrew said.

"Time for what?" asked Ryan still sounding incredibly sleepy.

"Time for us to have a few children," Andrew answered.

Ryan lifted his nose from his mate's neck his eyes wide. "I do want a few pups," Ryan acknowledged, "but it's so nice with just the two of us I'm reluctant to interfere with what we have."

"Children will only enhance what we have already," Andrew told Ryan gently. "We can do like my brother and Uncle Aaron did and hire someone to look after them for when we are working or want time alone."

"We're going to need a bigger place," Ryan said, "Preferably a house with a backyard, maybe in the suburbs with plenty of room for any children to run and play."

"Somewhere with friendly neighbors, that don't think anything of two men being together," Andrew added.

"Also somewhere with at least a few friendly Shifters and their families in the neighborhood, who will understand that a Shifter doesn't have a choice in who their mate will be," Ryan added the idea of having a few pups growing on him. It wasn't that he didn't want pups, he just hated to give up it just being Andrew and him when he wasn't out of town for work, which was far to often.

"I've already begun looking," Andrew told Ryan, "and I think I found the perfect place that's big enough for a dozen pups to have plenty of room to run around. It has a huge backyard and a high enough wall surrounding the house that most people wouldn't be able to see over it, so we should have plenty of privacy. I also plan on placing a few spells around our property that will discourage nosy people who want to spy on us."

"How big is this house?" asked Ryan, unsurprised that his mate had gone looking for a property for the two of them to buy, once Andrew got an idea his head there was almost no changing it. If Andrew was ready to start a family then he was ready and that was the end of it, although Ryan did have a say in it as well and could usually change his mate's mind in most instances.

"15 good sized bedrooms, three bathrooms spread out over four floors. The house does need some work," Andrew admitted, "but most of it can be fixed with a little elbow grease and a lot of magic."

"So it's a fixer upper," Ryan said and Andrew nodded.

"I can have it fixed up in no time with magic," Andrew repeated. "The foundation is solid, which I made sure to check when I toured the house, the bathrooms need work, but as I said Reparo will fix most of it. As for the bathroom we'll have to hire someone since I don't know the first thing about fixing pipes. The bedrooms are big enough for at least three people each, so our pups can share, if necessary. I was thinking that maybe we could turn part of the top floor into a nursery, where any children we have will have plenty of room to play until they are big enough to have their own rooms."

"We could hire someone to look after our pups while we were working just like your brother and Hotch did," Ryan said, the idea growing on him more.

"Yes, because if I have three or four at one time that would be too many for us to handle alone, especially since we both work and I have plenty of money to hire several nannies, although they'll have to have magic like I do since our children will likely start displaying it by the time they're 2 or 3."

"So you believe that at least most of all pups will get your magic?" asked Ryan curiously.

"I'll be very surprised if they don't all get it," Andrew said, "just like they will all get your wolf Shifter form."

"Why?" asked Ryan, "I don't have any magic."

"No, but it runs in your family and not a few generations ago either. You might not have gotten the ability to do magic, but over half your siblings did and in fact all, but three of them including you didn't get it," Andrew answered calmly. "That means all our children will almost certainly end up with it, because you do carry the gene for it. Now, if it was just me that had the gene for magic, I would still say at least most of them, if not all of them would still get my magic because I'm not bragging when I say I'm a fairly strong wizard and that makes a difference in how many children get a parent's magical ability. Besides, you also carry the gene for it, so it's a 99% certainty that all all our children will inherit my ability. Of course, there is that 1%, where they might not and it does happen sometimes, but mostly in pureblooded families, so the likelihood of that is very, very slim."

"Alright then, we need to hire a nanny or two who have magic," Ryan said, "and ones that don't disapprove of two men being together and who don't try to come on to one of us."

"That's a given," Andrew agreed. "I'm not going to feel alienated in my own home, by a nanny's disapproval of our relationship."

"If that did happen she would find her ass fired quickly," Ryan said, "because I'm not going to feel alienated in my own home either. Both of us should be able to be comfortable in our own house and not feel like whoever we hire is glaring at us or in any other way that somebody uses to make their disapproval of something known."

"I can ask Amelia if she knows anyone that we can hire," Andrew said. "That's for the future though. So what do you think?"

"Well, I'll have to see this place before I can give you an opinion on it," Ryan said, "but it sounds fine, and the price won't be as much because it requires some fixing up."

"You know there's no need to worry about the price," Andrew said. "I don't make a big deal about it, because that just causes trouble, but I have plenty of money. I don't see any reason why I can't buy the house outright instead of having to worry about house payments every month. We will need to pay the electric bill, but paying one or two bills is better than paying a whole lot of them at one time."

"We won't need to worry about bills at all if we set up an account where they are paid automatically," Ryan said. "You would have to keep replenishing the accounts from your Gringotts one, but that shouldn't be a problem."

"Yes, we could do that," Andrew acknowledged. "The goblins would do that for a small fee and that might just be the way to do it. I hate paying bills and I know you do to, but if they were paid automatically, then we wouldn't have to worry about them."

"The only reason I've never done so before now is because I've never had any really big bills to worry about," Ryan said. "Other than this apartment that is, and since it's really the only big bill I have to worry about I just write a check for the manager every month."

"Just think you'll save money in the long run instead of paying over twelve hundred dollars a month for this very small apartment. I mean for what you're paying for you would think that it would have more than one bedroom, a very small bathroom, a decent sized living room and kitchen, but nothing spectacular. Yes, I know apartments in this area are expensive, but still..."

"Inflation as you know," Ryan offered.

"I know, that's why I said we'll save money in the long run if we buy a house. I like having plenty of space to move around, but then I grew up in a house so I suppose that probably has something to do with it. This place was fine when we weren't talking about having children, but now that we are we need someplace bigger."

"I grew up in a house too, although it certainly wasn't as big as the one you were talking about buying or the one you grew up in," Ryan said. "It had six bedrooms, which of course, included the master, so me and my siblings had to share and I see nothing wrong with that."

"Actually, the one I grew up in until my parents died was smaller then the one my brother and uncle live in now. Actually it was about the size of the one I was looking at while you were out of town for work, 15 bedrooms, the only difference was that it had three floors and the top one was a nursery, as well as the master bedroom."

"Just like the one that Hotch and Spencer are living in now," Ryan murmured.

"Yes, well, the Potters never bought anything small since they always had so many children," Andrew pointed out. "It's true they only had Spencer at first and that mom had to take fertility potion in order to have my twin sisters, which is why they're so much younger then my oldest brother and then my mother took a fertility potion again and had me and my twin brother. My sister who is less than a year younger, than me and my twin brother was conceived while mom was still nursing, with no fertility potion this time, which happens quite frequently, especially in older woman. Hudson and Bronwyn were something of a surprise, as they came along about three years later and were not planned on, as my parents weren't planning to have anymore after Natalie was born. They weren't unwelcome, they were just a surprise. It's something of a Potter family tradition to have at least 14 or 15 children. My grandparents on the Potter side were unusual that they only had my mother and an uncle that died before I was born, because quite a few of my relatives on that side of family for the last 600 years or more have had quite a few children, apiece. Mom and dad were also rather unusual that they only had eight children instead of the 14 or 15 that most others of the family tended to have."

"8 is the minimal that most Shifters have like, Garcia for instance as she stopped after just two pregnancies, because she had quadruplets both times," Ryan said.

"Well, you know it depends on what kind of job a Shifter has to, as children aren't very cheap to raise, especially not in the 21st century. I can see a Shifter having a large family if the parents have good jobs and can afford them, but having more than one or two, if the Shifter family don't have good jobs that pay well, is very irresponsible. Yes, a lot of times Shifters have five or six at one time and I know that can't be helped, but still if it was me I wouldn't have anymore after that if I didn't have the money to raise them well."

"There are some Shifter families like that, as I'm sure you're aware," Ryan said, "but mostly Shifter families are large. Actually I grew up near another Shifter wolf family that had only three children, triplets and the mother had such trouble giving birth that it was decided she not have anymore."

"Didn't the mother have a c-section?" asked Andrew in surprise.

"C-sections weren't as common back in those days, as they are now. Now most doctors recommend that you have a c-section if you are carrying more than twins, but back then it wasn't a common thing to have one unless it was absolutely necessary. Of course, some doctors suggested them, but others felt that natural birth was better if at all possible and refused to perform one unless it became medically necessary in order to save their patient's life."

"The wizarding hospitals have a different view and insist on performing a c-section if it's more than twins, as the healers say that it's safer. Unlike with a Normal where they take six to eight weeks to heal from the surgery, a magical person will be up and about and back to work in less than a week."

"Wow!" Ryan said impressed. "How are you be able to go back to work that soon?"

"We have potions that will help us heal much faster, from a major surgery like that, including a blood replenishing one if it's necessary," Andrew answered. "The blood replenishing potion is extremely useful, but isn't a substitute for a witch's or a wizard's own blood though, as it can temporarily affect their ability to do magic, until their body has replaced its own blood supply, which can take anywhere from a few days to three or four weeks depending on how much potion they've had. However, if a witch or wizard looses too much blood even with the blood replenishing potion then they die, because as I said while the potion is very useful it's not a replacement for somebody's own blood. If you lose more than half your own blood then you're still likely to die."

"I knew that magical healing was much more advanced in some ways then for us muggles," Ryan said, "but I had no idea that the the healers can save peoples lives by using that blood replenishing potion."

"There are some things we can do that you can't, but the opposite is also true," Andrew said, as he cuddled into his mate's side feeling so happy and content that he didn't want to move.

"Alright then, it's time for us to have a few pups," Ryan finally decided. "However, before you go ahead and have the spells put on you that will allow you to get pregnant I want to see this house you've found before you buy it outright."

"Of course," Andrew immediately agreed, "I might have gone looking for a nice house for us to live in that's close to work for you, but I would never buy it without your consent since we are equal partners."

"So how long a commute is it?" asked Ryan.

"It's in Virginia," Andrew began to explain, "and it's probably not more than a 45 minutes to an hour commute, depending on traffic. As for me it doesn't really matter how long a commute it is since I can Floo or Apparate anywhere I need to go, which is why I found a place that's close to your work."

"You thought of everything," Ryan joked.

"I tried to," Andrew said. "Like for instance I chose a muggle house that has electricity instead of a wizarding one that doesn't, since I grew up in a normal muggle house, and so did you. It seemed appropriate and besides, I didn't want to give up all my comforts that run on electricity, TVs, computer, stereos, microwaves and so forth, although it's a good thing that most electronics can be shielded or they wouldn't work in a magical environment if there was too much magical energy floating around, even if the house is an entirely muggle one. Of course, if it was just me living there I probably wouldn't affect the electronics and other muggle devices, but once we have children it will be a different story."

"Alright then, I have tomorrow off, so we can go see this house together," Ryan decided. "You know our anniversary of when we first met is coming up in a few weeks, so is that what brought on the idea of having pups now?"

"Well, partially," Andrew admitted readily, "but also I'm getting older as I'm 31 and just like for women it's really not safe to have children past a certain age, although many do and come out of it just fine, but why risk it? I would like to have had my children by the time I'm 40 or shortly afterwards and that might require at least three or four different pregnancies depending on how many we have each time and even if I have them back to back like Spence did, for two of his pregnancies, for a total of four altogether, it's just better to go ahead and do it, even though I've enjoyed these last five years with just you and me."

"Yeah, you have a point," Ryan said not having considered Andrew's age before. Ryan knew it was safer to have pups while you were young and although many woman had them in their late 40s and sometimes even early 50s nowadays and came out of it just fine, pregnancy and giving birth was much easier on the body if you had them before you were 40. "So I believe you said you wanted to at least 10."

"Yes, I did," Andrew agreed. "If we get more than that after three or four pregnancies then that's fine, but I have no intention of getting pregnant more than four times just like Spence did. If we have a dozen or more doing those four pregnancies that's fine too, since us Potters tend to have large families. Yes, I'm a Reid, but I am also a Potter through my mother. Most of my ancestors on the Potter side have had at least 15 children, not all of them of course, but more then three quarters have."

"That doesn't mean you have to follow in their footsteps," Ryan said.

"No, I don't," Andrew agreed, "and if this was 30 years ago I wouldn't've been able to have children naturally, thanks to my relationship with you and we probably would've tried to adopt, but back then there was a lot more stigma against same-sex couples then there is today and the likelihood of actually being able to adopt a child or children would have been almost nil, because whoever we went to, to adopt a child would have been against us from the beginning simply because we were two men."

"Yes, that has happened in the past," Ryan agreed looking sad. "So many same-sex couples never have any children because of what they are, because whenever they try to adopt they are turned down and many can't afford the IVF process since it does tend to be expensive. Of course, there are some same-sex couples from decades ago that did manage to adopt, but it all depends on peoples opinions of two men being together, so many, many more were or are turned down."

"Well, at least it's easier today for same-sex couples to adopt, although they have to go through many more hoops than a normal male/female couple does," Andrew said. "The laws are now on our side though and can no longer prevent, same-sex couples from adopting and if somebody tries they can be taken to court."

"Things are improving," Ryan agreed. "Like for your brother and my boss."

"What do you mean by that?" Andrew asked.

"Just that some of the people we try to help catch killers have found out that Spencer and Hotch are a couple," Ryan begin to explain, "and in most cases their responses weren't as negative as I thought they would be. There were even a couple of male officers that were happy for them on a case in San Francisco a year ago. The females however…"

"Were more than disappointed," Andrew guessed accurately.

"Oh, yeah," Ryan said with a snicker. "If you had seen the way that some of those female officers faces fell when they found out that Hotch was in a permanent and committed relationship with a another man, you would have thought it was hilarious to."

"I'm taking it that some of them still tried to get his attention?" asked Andrew also with a snicker, as he could imagine that scene very easily. His uncle and might be pushing 50 now, but he was still a handsome man, who really didn't look like he'd aged very much since he and Spence had gotten together so many years ago and neither did his brother for that matter. Andrew supposed that happiness had a lot to do with how young they still looked, although he knew that his brother was going to outlive his uncle by a very long time, since magical folks could live up to 500 years, though most of them only lived to 300 or so, while Shifters only lived to be 150, sometimes much less of course, depending on general health. Andrew knew that once Aaron Hotchner died his brother would never be happy again, not like he was now, but luckily, that was a long time away.

"They did," Ryan agreed, with another snicker, "but Hotch put them back in their place and not very gently either. Oh, he was polite, but he made it clear he wasn't interested in anybody besides, his mate. His tone made it clear, as did his body language that he would not put up with females trying to drape themselves all over him or just causally touching him on the arm or the shoulder. Of course, the way he glared at them sent quite a few of them scurrying for safety. One female officer a few years ago even tried to drag him into a corner and kiss him."

"Some female actually tried to kiss him and drag him into a corner?" asked Andrew in amazement, for once utterly and completely shocked.

"Oh, yeah," Ryan said with a snort as he remembered the incident. "She was this ditzy blond that had barely passed the police academy and it was clear that she was only looking for a husband and not really interested in doing what a police officer does. She wasn't very well-liked among her coworkers to put it mildly and after that little incident she found her butt fired."

"So how did Uncle Aaron respond," asked Andrew, looking extremely interested in hearing about how his uncle had responded.

"That's what's so amusing, it wasn't Hotch that responded as he didn't even have a chance to, as Spencer pulled that ditzy blond female away from his mate and punched her directly in her gorgeous face."

"My brother did that?" asked Andrew amazed, although he knew he shouldn't have been because his brother was usually the nicest of people until you tried to come between him and his Uncle Aaron, which had happened a few times over the years. Usually though, his brother's response wasn't so extreme.

"Well, she had been trying to get his attention for several days before that and Spencer was at the end of his rope at that time, as he was present for most of her antics. It wasn't that he doubted Hotch's loyalty to him, because he had seen how his mate kept putting the female off gently, but with increasing frustration every time she tried something. When the female tried to pull Hotch, who is a big powerful man, as we both know into some dark corner of the police station to apparently try to kiss some sense into him, or at least that was her strategy, as she figured a few kisses from her would make Hotch forget about his mate completely and fall head over heels in love with her."

"She must really have been either desperate or as dumb as a bag of rocks to try something like that," Andrew snorted.

"It was both actually," Ryan snickered again. "In any case, we all know that Spencer's a lot more powerful than he looks as he keeps working out, so he has muscles under his clothes, even if he's not as powerful as Hotch or Morgan. In any case, it was a very sweet punch and knocked that female officer several feet and after that, Morgan actually had to restrain him, as he looked as if he was going to march over to where she was laying and punch her again while she was down. I've never seen Spencer as furious since that incident, but then most females confine themselves to a few coquettish looks, but with that female officer well...she had been invading Hotch's personal space for days and touching him sometimes intimately, so I don't really blame Spencer for his reaction at all."

"I'm surprised that my brother didn't get himself in trouble for that and at least get written up," Andrew commented.

"No, the captain of the station had seen what had been happening and the officer in question wasn't exactly well liked, as I've already said and so he agreed that this incident would be forgotten and no reports would be written up about it. He agreed that Spencer action while extreme were necessary, because the officer wasn't exactly taking no, for an answer. I think the reason the captain did that was he was a Shifter himself and he understood about True Mate Bonds and how protective True Mates tend to be of each other, even if one of them isn't a Shifter. To see the personal space of the one you love being invaded again and again by some female who is trying to get their attention, even if you know in your heart that your mate is loyal to you and is not interested in that female, is frustrating at least. However, frustration and anger at the continued attacks on a Shifter's mate, well, let's just say that if it had been you and if some female had been invading your personal space over the course of several days to try to get your attention I probably would have done the same, as I wouldn't have been able to stop myself, especially if I had a front row seat to see all the attempts, as just hearing about it afterwards doesn't have the same impact as being right there. My only surprise is that Spencer didn't punch that female officer out sooner, but by her trying to kiss his mate and seeing Hotch trying his best to get away without hurting the officer was the last straw."

"My brother has a lot of patience," Andrew admitted, "but anybody trying to come between him and Uncle Aaron, well, let's just say that I'm as surprised as you are that he didn't deal with the situation sooner."

"He knew that Hotch was dealing fine with it on his own, as Hotch had rebuffed every single one of that officer's attempts up until the kissing incident," Ryan said. "The whole team saw how Hotch was getting more and more frustrated and how he just kept rebuffing her attempts. We all knew that he didn't want to have to report the officer and get a permanent black mark placed on her record, but in retrospect maybe he should have as she probably would have stopped after that and the kissing incident would never have taken place."

"I suspect that even Uncle Aaron didn't think that the female officer would go that far," Andrew said with certainty.

"Yes, that's exactly right," Ryan admitted, "and me as well as the rest of the team shared that opinion, so we didn't prevent what happened, because we didn't think she'd go that far. We thought at that time that the officer had a modicum of intelligence and knew what would happen if she tried something like that and yet she did."

"And she got her ass fired," Andrew said with a certain malicious satisfaction, "which personally, I think was more than deserved. The only thing that really surprises me was that Spence didn't use magic on her."

"I don't think he even thought of it," Ryan said, "and even if it did I'm pretty sure he wouldn't've done it in front of all the police officers. Besides, I think punching someone like that is a lot more satisfying then using magic on them."

"Yes, I have to agree," Andrew said. "It's the physical release, which feels good after days of pent up frustration and anger and using magic wouldn't have had that same release or been as satisfying. I'm actually surprised that the female officer didn't protest the decision to fire her ass."

"She tried, but the captain told her that she had brought it on herself and that he had every right to fire her ass, after what she had done. He told her that being a police officer was serious business and you didn't get into it, just so you could find yourself a husband, like was so obvious where she was concerned and had been since the beginning. He also told her that trying to come between a Shifter and their mate, one that was a federal officer no less, was not the smartest thing she could have done, and Spencer had had every right to respond, just as he had to this personal attack on his mate and she was only lucky that, Morgan had stopped him from punching her again. The captain informed her that the fates or the gods did not take kindly to somebody who interfered in a True Mate Bond and so she was only lucky that it hadn't gone any farther, or she would have brought down their wrath upon her."

"I doubt she believed what he was being told," Andrew said.

"She didn't, but then not many people do, until things start happening to them. There have been people in the past that have tried to come between the Shifter and their mate and they start out having minor accidents, like being extremely clumsy and if they don't get the point other things begin happening to them," Ryan said. "I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing was already happening to that female officer, like tripping over absolutely nothing, or bumping into things hard enough to leave bruises, but if those things did happen, I doubt she realized it was because she had gone after a Shifter who was already mated."

"Nope, she seems to stupid to connect the dots," Andrew snickered.

"As interesting as this conversation is at believe we could be doing other things," Ryan suggested knowing exactly how his mate was going to respond to that.

Andrew's face lit up and he immediately agreed, "We've talked enough for one night and we can go tour that house tomorrow, but for now you're right we could be doing other things, especially since we don't get to do enough of that since you are gone so much for work. I now understand what my brother and Hotch had to go through by being separated so much and I am in awe of them at the way they handled it with dignity and grace, while I tend to be all grumpy while you're gone."

"Which is why we fuck each other senseless for hours when I'm home," Ryan head with a large grin.

"Yes, we do," Andrew agreed kissing Ryan on the lips passionately, which the other man responded to immediately and eagerly. "Of course, our relationship is more then about staying in bed as pleasurable as that always is. For right now though, I do believe, that we can get back to what we were doing a couple of hours ago."

Ryan was more than eager to do that, so was on top of Andrew in seconds and since both of them were already buck naked there was no reason to not get started right away.

There were no more words exchanged unless you counted growls, moans, purrs and whimpers of pleasure and satisfaction that is.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	20. Chapter 20

Five months later

Andrew and Ryan emerged from the Floo and into the living room of Spencer's and Hotch's house just before dinner time, as they had been invited and since they didn't get to see each other enough or at least Andrew didn't, since the other three worked together.

"It's good to see you, little brother," Spencer greeted Andrew. "I really don't see you or my other siblings or their families enough."

"It's good to see you too," Andrew told his brother giving him a hug, although his belly was very prominent between them. "You might not think you see me or the others enough, but you certainly see us more than you did when we were in school for nine months of the year."

"Yes, I suppose, that's true," Spencer admitted. "So how are my nieces and nephews?" Spencer asked patting Andrew's stomach gently.

"They're fine," Ryan told Spencer also giving him a hug.

"So do you know how many you having yet or the sexes?" asked Spencer.

"Yes, we're having three, and it's all boys," Ryan informed him. "Of course, having triplets our first time since I was also a triplet isn't really all that surprising, though I do have one sister, while these three will all be the same sex, even if they're fraternal."

"So Aaron and I are getting three nephews then," Spencer said with a happy grin.

"Yes, you are and I'm going to try this again, in a year or two of course," Andrew said. "At least I'm not feeling any back pain or anything else involved in pregnancy, except the weight of the babies themselves, thanks to those potions I can take, so this pregnancy is going much easier so far then it would if I was female and a Normal or a Shifter. The morning sickness was really severe however, which is to be expected, but still I'm glad I'm over that."

"Believe me, I had really bad morning sickness to," Spencer said with a grimace, "I could've done without all the throwing up involved, but Addison told me that's someone carrying multiples often has worse morning sickness then someone carrying only one."

"Well, luckily, it's over with now, although I'm not looking forward to next time," Andrew said.

"Who would?" asked Ryan rhetorically as he had been there for some of his mate's morning sickness. "Anybody who looks forward to almost throwing up their lungs in the toilet needs to have their head examined."

The other two men chuckled at that because it was true.

"It will be worth it in the end once you hold those precious burdens in your arms for the first time," Spencer promised as Andrew and Ryan nodded in agreement.

"Well, we should probably head to the kitchen, since dinner was nearly ready when I came to greet you," Spencer said. "Aaron is probably even now setting stuff on the table. So what did my old mentor Addison think when you made an appointment and told him you wanted to get pregnant?"

"Well, he was a little shocked at first, but then he was happy to do it," Ryan answered. "I think he was more surprised that there were two male Shifters that had True Mates in the same magical family both of those also being male."

"Well, it is pretty rare," Spencer admitted. "Not impossible, since it has happened in the past, but still it doesn't exactly happen very often."

"Yeah, well, we have to remember that most Normal families, only have three, maybe four children," Andrew pointed out, "so, of course, it isn't very common. Wizarding families on the other hand, some of them anyway, have six of seven children and sometimes more, depending on resources like money. The Potters however, have always normally had at least 15 children, with our grandparents and parents being the only exceptions that I know of anyway in recent history."

"They're have been others, but they're at least a hundred years ago, but mostly the Potters have had many children to carry on the family name and also because they genuinely love them," Spencer admitted.

"Dinner is served," Hotch announced as the three men entered the big country style kitchen.

"Well, this looks scrumptious and I'm starved," Andrew said patting his belly.

"I'm not surprised," both Hotch and Spencer said together grinning at each other.

"I remember those days very well," Spencer added. "I was eating like seven or eight times a day, small meals, that were also nutritionally balanced. Thanks to Cassie the nurse who lived with Aaron and I when I was pregnant all four times, I came out of each pregnancy not too much overweight and all the babies were healthy and weighed much more then what is normally expected considering I had 6, three different times."

"We were going to do it again to if Spencer hadn't decided to go to the FBI Academy and it was then I knew that our babymaking days were officially over," Hotch added smiling as he remembered.

"I would've thought that 22 was enough for anybody," Andrew told his uncle.

"For most people it would be way too many," Spencer agreed immediately, "but to me our children is just an expression of the love that Aaron and I have for each other. I was over the moon when I found out there was a way for us to have children naturally. If I felt for one minute that another pregnancy would've put my life in danger, or if I didn't have Galleons to take care of them properly I never would have considered having anymore, but all four pregnancies were incredibly easy on me, except for carrying all that extra weight around and the severe morning sickness for the first few months. It's bound to be easier on you because you are only carrying triplets, while I carried sextuplets three different times and one set of quadruplets."

"Who knows that might happen next time," Ryan said with a large grin, as he thought about that. He was already very eagerly anticipating his son's births even if he had been incredibly reluctant to interrupt what he and Andrew had in the beginning. Now things were different, as he had certainly enjoyed the process of getting his mate pregnant once the spells were put on him.

"So how's the new house working out?" asked Hotch.

Ryan and Andrew had indeed bought the house, that Andrew had been looking at as it had been absolutely perfect, with a high wall that surrounded the whole property, which Andrew had made sure to put spells on every inch so that no nosy neighbors would be spying on them, although guests were always welcome so long as they came up the pathway that led to the front door. The neighbors wouldn't know why they were incurious about the couple that lived in the big house that was three different floors, not including the basement or the attic and wouldn't even think about it, which should ensure their privacy. Of course, there were other spells on the wall, and the house itself, one of which was no Portkeys were allowed except the ones he or Spencer made. There was also a Anti-Apparition ward and only he or one of the family were allowed to Apparate, into the house, while the rest had to Apparate outside. Actually even the family had to Apparate into a little room off to the side of the front entrance, which had likely been used for coats at some point and since it wasn't big enough to use for anything else had been set aside for just that purpose. The reason for this was that they often had guests that weren't magical and so this avoided confusion or from having to do a Confundus or a memory charm.

"It's working out rather well, although right now it seems to large for just the two of us," Andrew answered. "Yes, I know I'm the one that toured the house and found it first and also that the feeling of being to huge will change once a children arrive, but right now it just feels like a big empty old place. However, all the rooms are ready to go and Ryan and I have even fixed up a nursery on the top floor that will hold up to a dozen small children under five at one time. The master suite is also on that floor just like it is for this house, but there're several rooms for the nannies separate from the nursery itself because the house wasn't built with a nursery in mind like this one was."

"We had to knock down a couple walls to make room for a baby nursery actually, which Andrew did very easily with magic once we made sure that they weren't necessary for structurally supporting the house," Ryan added. "We didn't even need hire professional help, like I would have had to do if I had been just me."

"It took us a couple of days to get it the way we wanted it, but now you can't tell that there were ever walls there in the first place," Andrew said with a smile. "What I thought was 15 bedrooms, figuring the top floor was just the master a bathroom, a storage room and maybe like a sunroom, since there are a lot of windows on the upper level, turned out to be the master bedroom, bathroom at the end of the hall, as well as one in the master suite and a storage room, just like I figured, but on the other side of the hall instead of the sunroom or some kind of room used for crafts or something similar I found about 5 extra good sized bedrooms, so we really had a total of like 20 bedrooms and we turned three of those, the ones where the walls weren't structurally supporting the house and took them out and now we have a nanny's room or guestroom on each end of the nursery."

"So you really got a bargain," Hotch commented looking pleased.

"Yes, we did," Andrew said, "and now I know I should've gone up to the third floor, but I just figured it was the master, a bathroom, well you know. I guess I was thinking that it would be like this house, except without the nursery, since only the master, a bathroom, and the nursery is on the top floor. Well also that kind of playroom on the opposite side of the hall that you turned into a gym, but still there are no bedrooms, except yours and the ones within the nursery for the nannies on that floor."

"Now you know that all houses are different," Spencer told Andrew who blushed in embarrassment at his mistake.

"Don't feel embarrassed, as everybody makes mistakes and for all we know one of our ancestors did the same thing you did and created a nursery for the top floor of this house. We don't know whether this house was built with a nursery in mind or if it was later created using magic," Spencer told his brother with a smile. "Actually most houses unless built to certain specifications aren't done with a nursery in mind. Of course, most houses are not built with as many rooms as this one or yours has either since most families nowadays are relatively small unless you're a Shifter."

"So are you planning to get pregnant again right away like Spencer did twice?" asked Hotch.

"Probably not," Ryan immediately answered. "I think triplets will be more than enough for Andrew and I to handle, even with the nanny we hired to help. Andrew will be home every night from his job at the ministry in New York, but I won't be, but I suppose we'll see," Ryan conceded.

"Well, the reason I did it is I didn't want to go through the trouble of losing all that baby weight only to regain it when I got pregnant again," Spencer explained. "The way I did it I only had to lose the baby weight twice and I didn't have to gain as much for either the second or the fourth pregnancy since they were so close together before I had gotten back to my normal weight."

"Well, I do want more pups, but I think in a few years once the triplets we're having, have grown up a little and are at least past the diaper stage and toilet trained. Besides, Andrew and I only hired one nanny and she's only human after all and can only do so much and looking after three babies is no picnic, even with Andrew's help and sometime's mine."

"So hire a second one," Spencer urged them. "That way one can be on duty while the other sleeps, because trust me taking care of three infants even with the help of one nanny is going to be difficult, especially since you, Ryan, are gone so much with the team."

"You know we used to have a team of six different nannies, while our children were all still young," Hotch said. "Now, all except Amelia and her granddaughters have been released to other jobs since most of them are at the Salem institute for nine months of the year and one or all of them might still be available. I'll give you their contact information."

"Thanks Hotch," Ryan said and Hotch nodded. "That will be appreciated, since I really don't want to have to do interviews again."

"You know we do still have 12 of our children at home, although they'll be starting soon too," Spencer said looking wistful.

"Yeah, in just a couple years for six of them start and the year after the other six will start as well," Hotch said also looking rather sad and wistful.

"You'll find that children grow up incredibly fast and since Aaron and are gone from home so much well, we miss a lot," Spencer told the pair.

"Our children know we love them and that's the important thing," Hotch said. "We do spend quite a bit of time with all of them when we're home since they will be at school for nine months of the year like the other 10 way too soon," Hotch said.

"Isn't that the truth," Spencer said.

All four of them continued to eat dinner and talk, which concentrated around Andrew's pregnancy and when he expected to have to go in for a c-section.

Nobody would be scared of Aaron Hotchner or of his glare of death if they knew how relaxed he was as talking about babies and other things that weren't considered male territory. Of course, Ryan well knew that Hotch was only this relaxed with people he knew well like the team or his family and everybody else that was an acquaintance or associate he was always polite, but nobody would have said he was soft like some of them would if they saw him now.

Ryan participated in the conversation and answered questions when asked, but really he was 1,000,000 miles away lost in his own thoughts.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Three months later

"Hey anybody home?" the voice of Leah called from the fireplace.

"You're in a good mood," Hotch noted with a smile coming from the kitchen.

"Yes, well, I have some news for both you and my brother. Where is he anyway?" Leah asked.

"He wanted to stop by the bookstore and pick up a few books, this is the first chance he's had to do that in awhile as the two of us have been really busy at work," Aaron answered.

Leah rolled her eyes at that and Hotch chuckled. "Yes, I know what you're thinking. Does Spencer really need anymore books? In any case, why don't you come for dinner, as he should be home soon."

"That sounds good," Leah immediately agreed. "Can I bring a guest?"

"The more the merrier," Hotch said immediately. "I know Spencer won't mind and I certainly don't. Spencer and I always cook more than is really necessary anyway, so that the pups will have some meals that they can just heat up in the microwave while we are gone and that way Amelia or one of her granddaughters doesn't have to cook every night or they don't have to order out."

"That's smart," Leah said.

"Well, we had to do something to help, Amelia and Haven and Harmony out, since we are gone a lot of the time, so it's only fair. All three can cook too, but it's not really fair to them have to cook for so many every time we are not there and eating out all the time isn't healthy and also expensive."

Leah nodded and said, "So you and my brother cook a whole lot, since you're gone so much and then leave it in the freezer to just be reheated."

"Yes and this way Amelia and her granddaughters don't have to worry about it all the time, although they do have to cook some, just not as much, since we all do our parts because with so many children you have to be ultra organized. At least 10 of them are at Salem Institute for nine months of the year now, so we don't have to cook quite so much, even if Spencer and I miss them like crazy and it doesn't help that six more of them will be going in the near future."

"I had better go, although I'll be there along with my guest in 10 or 15 minutes," Leah said.

"You and your guest are welcome," Hotch said keeping his suspicions to himself.

Hotch suspected that Leah had finally met someone and that she had finally gotten over Conrad. Hotch really hoped his suspicions were right, because he wanted to see Leah happy and he knew Spencer did to. Leah was 34 and hadn't dated at all as far as Hotch knew in over 10 years and really closer to 15 and all because her longtime boyfriend Conrad had not only been cheating on her, but had lied to her about it for several years. If he had only been honest about it from the beginning and broken it off with Leah, instead of leaving her with a broken heart things might have turned out much differently and it was very possible that Leah would've settled down years ago and had a dozen children by now. Of course, Leah was still young enough to have that dozen children if she really wanted to, so Hotch was very much hoping that Leah's guest was indeed a serious boyfriend. He knew that Leah had been living in New Delhi, which was in India for the last five years and she enjoyed it, even though they spoke a totally different language that wasn't Latin based.

The front door opened just then and Hotch knew that his mate was home from the bookstore.

"Hey!" Spencer said, as he came into the living room

"Hey yourself," Hotch said before the two of them exchanged a long tender kiss.

"I'm sorry I left you with the dinner preparations," Spencer apologized.

"It's fine," Hotch promised him putting an arm around his mate's waist and pulling him close. "In any case, you need to go wash up Leah and a guest are coming for dinner."

Spencer looked up from where he had his nose buried in his mate's chest at that announcement and it was clear that Spencer was putting the pieces together quite rapidly. Hotch knew that his mate was concluding that there was no way Leah would request to bring a guest to dinner, especially not on short notice, if it wasn't a man and if it wasn't very serious.

"Yes, I had better go cleanup," Spencer agreed giving Hotch another kiss before heading upstairs to change.

Hotch watched him go in amusement then headed back to the kitchen to check on dinner.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Welcome to our home. I'm Spencer Reid, Leah's oldest brother," Spencer greeted a tall dark stranger that looked around her age after he had greeted his sister.

"Thank you," the man said in heavily accented English. "I'm Adnan Kota

"It's nice to meet you," Spencer said cordially shaking the man hand.

"If you come this way, dinner should be on the table," Spencer said walking towards the kitchen where they were having dinner. "I hope you don't mind that we're having dinner in the kitchen, since it's typically just Aaron and myself."

"It's fine as you were very nice to invite a stranger to dinner on short notice," Adnan said.

"Well, we always cook more than we eat and freeze the rest, so there's always plenty. Besides, I know my sister pretty well and that she wouldn't have asked to bring a guest, especially not on short notice if it wasn't a man and if it wasn't pretty serious," Spencer told Adnan bluntly and watched as his sister blushed. "Leah isn't the type to bring just any man home, so your relationship must be pretty serious for her to bring you to meet Aaron and I."

"Spence!" Leah protested.

"I'm sorry Leah, really I am, but if you wanted to keep your relationship quiet then you shouldn't have asked to bring a guest when Aaron invited you to dinner," Spencer told his sister with a smile taking the sting out of his words.

"I had forgotten…how blunt you could be," Leah said.

"Well, you haven't been home in a long time," Spencer said. "Yes, we've talked though emails and phone calls, but that's not the same and you know it."

Adnan listened to this conversation and realized that Leah's older brother was gently scolding his sister for not coming home at least every once in awhile.

"I'm sorry, Spence," Leah told her older brother.

"Hey it's okay," Spencer said with a slow easy smile. "I know I'm not here a lot thanks to the job I have, so I'm not completely blameless."

The three of them arrived in the kitchen where Hotch was just putting the dishes on the table.

"Adnan, this is my mate Aaron Hotchner. Aaron this is Adnan," Spencer introduced.

"Welcome to our home," Hotch said immediately recognizing not only another Shifter, but a predator.

"Thank you, you are almost gracious," Adnan said shaking Hotch's hand and a message seemed to pass between the 2 men Adnan recognizing another predator. Hotch said nothing, but there was a warning look in his eyes that flashed briefly to gold before returning to normal that Adnan immediately recognized it for the warning it was. 'If you harm my family there will not be enough left of you to identify,' was the silent message.

Adnan bowed slightly and in that bow and the brief flash of yellow eyes was a message that said, 'I have no intention of harming any of those you consider yours.'

Hotch relaxed, as the message was received and he became more cordial. Spencer had not missed the exchange, although Leah hadn't noticed and he shot his mate a look and Aaron winked at him, causing him to relax.

"Dinner is served," Hotch said with a smile, "everybody take a seat."

"So, Adnan, how long have you and Leah known each other?" asked Hotch.

"Over two years," Adnan answered as he ate the delicious if different food.

"And you didn't introduce him before now," Spencer asked raising an eyebrow at his sister who blushed again.

"Well, it wasn't really serious until the last year," Leah admitted. "Not on my part anyway, but Adnan made his intentions clear from the beginning."

"It took me forever to convince her that she was my True Mate," Adnan said putting an affectionate hand on his mate's arm.

"I thought I wasn't ready to get involved in a relationship not after Conrad, as he hurt me," Leah admitted. "I wasn't sure I ever would be, not until Adnan and I met anyway."

"Conrad was over a decade ago and really it's been closer to fifteen years," Spencer told his sister. "You shouldn't have let what he did hold any power over you as you haven't been able to really be happy in all the time since you broke up. You being miserable only means that he wins and you haven't been really happy in a very long time. Well, not until right now anyway." Spencer gave Adnan a look that told the over 7 feet high black man that his mate's older brother know exactly why his sister was so happy all of a sudden, but then from what Leah had told him her brother was an intelligent man and was mated himself and so would understand.

"It wasn't so much why he broke up with me it was how he did it," Leah said and Spencer nodded having already known this.

"So how long have you been mated?" Hotch asked.

"Almost a year," Adnan admitted.

"And you saw fit say nothing," Spencer spluttered glaring at his sister who looked contrite.

"Don't be too upset with her, things have been moving at a relatively fast pace," Adnan said. "As you know Shifters are incredibly fertile, and apparently Leah is as well for she got pregnant that first time."

"So we have some nieces and nephew then?" asked Hotch.

"Yes," Adnan admitted, "but unfortunately, the pregnancy didn't go too well at first, because of the heat and the fact that she was carrying five cubs. She had this really bad morning sickness, so extreme that we were both afraid she would lose the cubs she was carrying, as she couldn't keep anything down not even water for a long time. Finally by the time she was five months pregnant things had settled down and started going much better, but she was forced onto bedrest for the last few months."

"So all my nieces and nephews were born healthy?" asked Spencer calming down a little, although he was sad that his sister had gone through all that and hadn't had any support besides, Adnan.

"We nearly lost one of our sons," Leah admitted quietly, "but luckily, not only do children with magic tend to be extremely hearty, so do Shifter babies and so he pulled through, although he had to spend several months in ICU."

"You should have contacted Aaron and I," Spencer told Leah heatedly, "We could have been there for you."

"There was nothing you could have done," Leah told her brother gently. "The only you could've done was a worry."

"Which is a brother's prerogative," Spencer told her in a no nonsense tone. "I helped raise you from a baby, I love you dearly, and I realize that you are grown up now and have your own life, however..."

"Yes, I realize that I had an obligation to tell you about Adnan and the fact that I was having trouble with my pregnancy," Leah cut her brother off. "I should have told you, that I was happy, but I wasn't ready to contact anyone in the family much less see them."

"Which is why you haven't been home for Christmas or really any other time in the last few years," Spencer said in understanding. "I can understand you're not coming home last year, but you should have told us about him and your pregnancy in your calls or emails home."

"Alright, that's enough Spencer and Leah," Hotch barked suddenly. "I know you're both extremely stubborn and don't like to admit when you're wrong, but I would like for you to forgive each other a make up. Spencer, Leah has a right to her life, and yes, I believe she made the wrong decision about keeping us in the dark, but still it is her life. Leah, you should have realized that keeping both of us in the dark, especially about such a major event, was not the right thing to do and that Spencer at least would be extremely upset with you for it."

"And you're not?" asked Adnan.

"Of course, I am," Hotch told Adnan evenly, "but even as much as I love Leah like a favorite niece, I don't have the same history or emotional connection with her that Spencer does, since they grew up together. If she's ever in trouble I'll come and help and I do love her, just not on the same level that Spencer on her other siblings do, which is as it should be. I didn't meet her until she was 16, so that deep emotional connection that a brother/sister would have or parent/child isn't the same. I have a much deeper emotional connection with their youngest siblings Hudson and Bronwyn because they were only 10 when I met them, so my reaction isn't going to be as extreme as Leah's brother's."

"I'm sorry, Spence," Leah apologized looking contrite, getting up out of her chair and coming to give her brother a tight hug.

"I'm sorry to," Spencer apologized, "but I hope you understand that what you did hurt me, because I wasn't there when you needed me and yes, you had Adnan, but still I'm your brother and should have been there or at least been told, so it wouldn't have caught me by surprise."

"I didn't want you to overreact like you did when Conrad's treachery came to light," Leah admitted

"That was a totally different situation and you know it," Spencer told her sternly kissing her on the forehead. "I would have been happy that you had finally found someone that you love to settle down with and yes, I would have been worried when I learned that the pregnancy was being so hard on you, but I just would've been happy that you survived it and so did my nieces and nephews."

"So now that that's settled, what kind of Shifter are you?" asked Hotch of Adnan. "I'm not really familiar with the kind of Shifters that are living in India, but I would guess something like panthers or a tiger since those animals are common over there."

"I am a panther," Adnan informed the others at the table.

"You must be a really large one, considering you are at least 7 feet tall," Spencer commented studying Adnan.

"7 1/2 feet actually," Leah said, as she placed a gentle hand on her mate's arm. "I've seen him in his panther form and he is magnificent."

Adnan squeezed his mate's thigh under the table, to silently thank her for the compliment and she looked at him adoringly.

"Well, I'd liked to welcome you to the family," Hotch told Adnan, "and I really hope, that you'll bring your cubs to meet us sometime in the very near future."

"Oh, we will, but they were asleep considering it's quite early in the morning over there," Leah admitted.

"Well, there's a nine and half hour time difference," Spencer said looking at his watch, "which means it's 4:00 in the morning over there, which kind of begs the question why aren't you asleep in your beds? I mean 4:00 in the morning is way to early to be up."

"Well, our sleep patterns aren't exactly the same as yours, since it's so hot over there," Leah said. "We sleep during the hottest part of the day a lot of times and then do all our shopping and other chores while it's cooler. You know I've always been a bit of an insomniac and I tend to be a night owl as well, so we sleep when we're sleepy and a lot of times we stay up all night just talking or doing other things."

Spencer was grateful that Leah said other things and hadn't gone into detail, although he knew that she meant fucking like rabbits.

"I've always envied that ability of yours, which I know didn't manifest until after your bad breakup with Conrad," Spencer told his sister. "To be awake in the middle of the night and feel as fresh if you just got up, but when you crash, you crash hard."

"Yeah, I sleep like the dead," Leah agreed with a laugh.

"So when will we get to meet these nieces and nephews?" asked Hotch.

"And how many of each are we getting?" Spencer added.

"Leah gave me four strong sons and just one beautiful little girl," Adnan answered smiling widely as he thought of his handsome cubs or in his daughter's case beautiful, asleep in their own beds at home being watched over by his mother.

"So since you had such a tough pregnancy are you going to try again in a few years?" Hotch asked Leah who nodded yes.

"Yes, we are, although not for at least a couple of years so that my body has a chance to heal completely. The doctors at the hospital over there have assured me that there's nothing wrong with me at all and that I should be able to get pregnant again, although they advised that I need to wait at least two or three years. They said that a lot of times severe morning sickness comes with carrying multiples and that the heat didn't help, especially since I hadn't grown up in India where the heat just became a part of you and that it can be over 115°F in the summers."

"And it is also monsoon season," Adnan reminded his mate who nodded.

"I had been living there for several years, before I met Adnan here, but I'm still not used to the heat in the summers and when I was pregnant it was at least five times worse."

"Yes, the heat affects most women much more when they're pregnant then at any other time," Spencer agreed knowing this from experience. "I well remember how it affected Emily when she was pregnant doing the summer a few of years ago."  
"Who is this Emily?" asked Adnan

"Emily Prentiss Rossi," Hotch said, "she works with Spencer and I at the Behavioral Analysis Unit that is part of the FBI, which stands for the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

"Yes, Leah talks about her brother and you often and about where you work," Adnan said. "She has told me many things about her family. She talks about you and all her siblings and nieces and nephews constantly."

"Well, it's nice to know that you haven't forgotten us," Spencer told his sister only halfway joking.

"I could never forget you," Leah protested and flushed in shame when her brother shot her a look that said 'Oh, really?'

"In any case, she and another profiler David Rossi got romantically involved and eventually got married a few years back. They now have six children one set of twins and one set of quadruplets," Hotch explained.

"Is either one of them a Shifter?" asked Adnan curiously.

"No, and as far as I know none neither one of them has Shifter blood," Spencer answered immediately. "Emily is older though, over 40 and older women often have multiples and once you have multiples the first time your chances increase considerably for having them again. In any case, it was mutually decided between her and Dave that they didn't want anymore after the quadruplets were born, so Emily had an operation done that will prevent her from getting pregnant again. Besides, she was nearly at the age where she wouldn't be able to have anymore children anyway, so it's just as well that she and Dave stopped after her second pregnancy, since pregnancy tends to be harder on the body the older you are, although it helps that Emily in excellent physical shape because of her job."

"Oh, yes, I'm in shape too and I know I got through my pregnancy much easier than I would have if I hadn't been and that it could have been much worse," Leah immediately agreed. "I don't even want to think about what it would've been like if I had let myself go like some women do. As it is I'm still losing all that pregnancy weight, although I really didn't gain as much as I should have since I was throwing up so much."

"Well, every pregnancy is different, so hopefully, that won't happen next time," Spencer said.

"I can hope," Leah agreed, "because I really do want more children in a couple of years."

"So how many are you planning on having?" asked Spencer curiously.

"As many as it is safe for me too," Leah answered before Adnan could. "We all know that Shifters families tend to be large, and in India this is doubly true as some women have over 30 children, depending on how many they have each time and how young they are when they get married."

"In India a lot of men also have more than one wife," Spencer reminded his sister who nodded, "even though I know this is not true where Shifters are concerned or at least not those that have met their True Mates. Just don't wear yourself out, getting pregnant again and again because that might cause you to die doing childbirth because of complications."

"I will never allow that to happen," Adnan said. "I would like a large family with many children, but I would not risk Leah's life in order to get them. If the doctors say that it's too dangerous for her to get pregnant again, then I will have a vasectomy, so I can father no more cubs."

Hotch and Spencer looked at Adnan with more respect then before and thought here was a man that cared more about his mate then fathering more children, and was willing to have a vasectomy to make sure he couldn't get Leah pregnant again if the time ever came that having more children would put her life in danger. Of course, to a Shifter their True Mate was all important and a Shifter would never put the life of their mate in danger and it didn't matter if it was male or female Shifter since both were protective of their mates, although the males tended to be doubly and even triply protective when their mate was pregnant, just as he had been when Spencer had been carrying their pups. Still, Adnan had earned their respect, especially since it was clear to the two veteran profilers that he meant what he had said and hadn't just said it trying to impress them.

"That is for the future and there is no need to worry about it now," Leah told Adnan gently kissing his cheek. "I certainly won't be getting pregnant again for a least a couple of years, as I am taking a potion that will prevent it for three months at a time and I will just have to remember to take the next dose. Even a Shifter who can usually get a woman pregnant easily, won't be able to get around the potion like they can the muggles birth control pills."

"So are you a wizard as well as a Shifter?" asked Spencer, "or just a Shifter?"

"Both," Adnan answered mostly bringing up a little ball of little blue witchlight without uttering a word or even making a gesture, it was just suddenly there hovering an inch above his right palm. "Magic is practiced much differently in my country, as we have no formal school like I know you have here in the west and in Europe. We are taught at home, either by a teacher that takes you on as his apprentice or by your parents or grandparents or both. Asian magic is different from what you have here in America, as India is filled with ancient curses and spells just like Egypt and although there are many fake magicians on street corners who perform no more than a few parlor tricks, magic is still an ancient force in my country."

"So you perform magic without wands over there?" asked Spencer fascinated.

"We do not need wands to perform powerful magic and we are taught without the aid of such devices," Adnan answered. "I know that here in America and places like Britain that wands are used by the magical community, but in India they're considered a crutch."

"I don't need to wand either," Spencer told Adnan. "However, you're right that wands are a crutch as they're easier to use, because they help focus the magic without as much effect, but anybody can do wandless magic if they practice and concentrate, but a lot of witches and wizards won't do this, as it takes a lot a patience to learn how and a lot more concentration to get it to work at least at first. Here in America though, many more witches and wizards can do wandless magic, but in Britain most of them are too lazy to learn how to do magic without one or don't want to put in the effort required. However, it's a lot easier to perform magic in front of muggles, that's nonmagical people, if you don't have to have a wand."

"Yes, a lot of muggles are extremely unobservant and and if a tray of glasses suddenly falls off the bar in a public place for example people will just think that somebody brushed against the serving tray they were walking by and knocked them off," Hotch said with a smirk as he remembered one particular incident where that had happened.

Spencer blushed as he remembered the incident in question.

"So personal experience?" Leah asked her uncle, while looking at her brother blushing. Hotch simply smiled at her.

Hotch then looked at Spencer who blushed again and that just confirmed Leah's suspicions.

"So what happened?" asked Leah.

"Well," Hotch said, even as Spencer looked ready to protest, "the whole team that Spencer and I work with were at this bar. It was after work hours, we hadn't been called out to a different city for a change, so we were just kind of decompressing, even if doing paperwork is more boring then anything else. There was this lady, that was very, very drunk, so drunk that she was at least three sheets to the wind that I wouldn't have been surprised to find out her alcohol level was way over the legal limit. I had gone to the bar to get the drinks for Spencer and I and she approached me, well let's just say that her intentions were crystal clear."

"I'll say," Spencer snorted his voice dripping with derision and contempt. "This floozie draped herself all over Aaron like she owned him and even when he shook himself loose and told her that he was married and wasn't interested she kept coming back."

"Well, after about the fifth or sixth time that she came back and tried to drape herself all over me, kiss me and feel me up, even though I'd made it clear that I wasn't interested, Spencer let his frustration show and let out of burst of magic that knocked the tray with several drinks down off the edge of the bar, and they shattered all over the floor, creating quite a mess, but that was enough for me too extract myself yet again and for Spencer and I to kind of fade into the crowd. Both of us had had enough for one night and so we told Emily we were leaving and she promised to tell the rest of the team the reason why."

"Morgan, of course, had to see what happened and he's been teasing me about it ever since, even though he has no proof that I'm the one that knocked the tray of drinks off the edge of the bar, but since nobody was near enough to brush against the tray in order to knock them down he knew it had to be either me or his mate Penelope Garcia since both of us are magical, although she's also Shifter while I'm not."

"Spencer very rarely loses his temper, as Leah can tell you, as usually he is calm and in control at all times," Hotch said, "but he's also very protective of me, just as I am of him, so I'm not surprised that he did what he did."

"It's true, my brother's not one to lose his temper easily," Leah told her mate. "Now if it was Chance, or Natalie it would be different, since both of them have quick tempers that burn out just as quickly."

"I would've lost my temper in that situation much sooner," Adnan confided to the other three. "Some people just don't respect when a Shifter tells them that they're taken or married and then they have to be taught that it's not appropriate to flirt or touch someone that didn't ask for it and definitely isn't interested and has told you so. If it had been me I probably would've forgotten magic altogether and just gone to protect my territory."

"Well, I'm not the type to punch a woman," Spencer said, "so that seemed like the best way to deal with the situation by distracting her enough so Aaron could get himself free for like the sixth or seventh time. Once he did we just decided to leave since we knew she wasn't going to give up until she got what she wanted or somebody punched her out, which likely would have been me, since I had just about reached the limit of my patience and normally that never happens. Besides, even though I know Aaron can protect himself, as he said I'm very protective of him just like he is of me."

Hotch shot his mate a glance and Spencer immediately knew what Aaron was thinking about without him having to speak at all, for the way his mouth quirked up and his eyes sparkled with humor said it all. Aaron was thinking about the time he punched that woman officer at the police station after she had been making advances on him for several days during a very difficult case. Spencer had to admit that he had let his frustration out and had regretted hitting that female officer after an hour or two anyway. He was saying she hadn't deserved it, but still, that had been the sole exception, as he had never hit a woman since that day.

"Why not just us a Confundus his charm on her?" asked Leah.

"Well, for one thing she was drunk and it wouldn't've worked very well on a drunk person," Spencer explained, "and even if it had it would have worn off in an hour or so and she would've been back again, so it was just easier for the two of us to leave."

"The two of us don't go out for drinks with the rest of the team very often since we're not really the type to hang out in bars. Both of us aren't much for drinking and although we do enjoy an occasional glass of wine with dinner neither of us is the type to get drunk," Hotch said.

"I know the statistics behind accidents when drinking and driving and even if I didn't I am still not much of a drinker, as I've never seen the point of getting drunk and ending up with a nasty headache that doesn't want to go away the next morning. Besides, drinking too much impairs judgment and you can say fall down the stairs and break your neck, so no thank you."

"We should be getting home, as our cubs will be getting up soon and we need to be there," Adnan declared finally having enjoyed himself more then he expected to.

"So who's watching them and what are their names?" Spencer asked. "I meant to ask earlier, but I got sidetracked."

"My mother Aponi is watching them and in fact she lives with us, as my father passed away some years ago. It is quite common for parents or siblings to live with each other or at least it is India."

"So do you have any siblings?" asked Hotch.

"Yes, it is a matter fact over 30 of them," Adnan answered. "There were a few more, but they did not survive their infancy, which happens sometimes, as I'm sure you know."

Spencer whistled appreciatively and even Hotch looked impressed. "That's a lot even for a Shifter family."

"Families tend to be large in India, probably because sometimes the death toll is higher than in other places, especially back then. I will admit though that usually not one woman gives birth to so many children, but since they were all multiples of one sort or another, that helped. In any case, my mother was the only wife my father had, even though up to four are allowed by our laws. My mother had twins, then twins again less then a year later, as unfortunately, there weren't very many ways to prevent pregnancy back in the 60s that were effective against Shifters, especially when both parents were panther Shifters.

"Yes, I know," Hotch said with a nod. "Both my parents were Shifters to, but wolf Shifters just like I am and my mother had 18 children. However, your parents sound happy together while mine were anything but as their marriage was arranged, which happens a lot of times in high society families just like it does in India."

"Yes, my parents were True Mates, just like Leah and I are," said Adnan with a nod. "In any case, only a little over a year later she had quadruplets, then twins again immediately afterwards, she was pregnant after that every year or two until she had over 30 of them and after that it was decided that she would have her tubes tied, because even though every pregnancy had gone well my parents thought that over 30 children even if six had died was more than enough."

"I would say so," Spencer said. "Aaron and I had 22 ourselves and we're sure Leah told you about that."

"Yes, she did and I had no idea that something like that could be done," Adnan said looking impressed.

"It's a relatively recent spell, that was created by a man whose wife couldn't get pregnant and they really wanted a family," Spencer said. "The couple in question went through all the normal routes trying to adopt and were turned down until finally and in desperation the husband created two spells that would allow a man who had magic to get pregnant and carry the fetus normally. Unfortunately, this spell won't work for Normals, as it takes magic in order to make it work."

"That's a pretty impressive piece of magic," Adnan said impressed.

"Yeah, well, there a saying in this country that states that desperation is often the mother of invention," Spencer said, "and from what I know this man was desperate, because he really wanted a family and so did his wife, but they had been trying for years with no success and it was discovered that because of a bout with dragon pox that the man's wife had had as a child had rendered her more than infertile, but unable to ever carry a baby to term even if they had gone through the IVF process."

"So you wanted to know what we named our children," Adnan said and Hotch and Spencer both nodded. "Well, we didn't choose Indian names, like would be normal, since my mate is American."

"We named the oldest Theron, the second Sergio, the third McCoy, the fourth Kirk and our little girl is Esmeralda," Leah chipped in.

"Well, I see your love of Star Trek has come out in the name of your children," Spencer told his sister with a smile. "I'm surprised that you didn't name one Leonard or James instead of going by to the main character's last name."

Leah shrugged looking unrepentant. "I didn't want anything to common and those two names are used way to much."

Adnan just sat back and listened to the conversation as he knew all about his mate's love of the old 1960s Star Trek show and of her two favorite characters James T. Kirk and Leonard Bones McCoy, which was why she had given two of her sons their last names, but since both were used as first names nowadays he hadn't objected, although he had been responsible for naming their little girl and Leah had immediately liked the name Esmeralda, since it was so unusual and beautiful.

A few minutes later Adnan and Leah rose in order to get back to their children before they awoke and Hotch and Spencer escorted them to the Floo and watched as they left.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"That was a pretty great surprise," Spencer told his mate as two of them laid curled on the couch together.

"Yeah, it was," Hotch immediately agreed, as he held his mate close to him reveling in his scent. His mate smelled absolutely fantastic, whether he was aroused, sweaty, dirty, just had a shower or any other time as his smell no matter the circumstances made the wolf in him sit up and take notice and immediately start to drool and for his cock to perk up in interest. Even though the two of them had been mated over 20 years at this point, the wolf in him was always eager to take his mate to bed and make love to him and he would never get tired of showing Spencer how much he truly adored and appreciated him, even when they'd been mated a hundred years. He had been so much happier these last couple of decades, ever since he and Spencer had met then in all the years before that and now that his mate actually worked with him, their life was just about perfect. Sure, they had their little arguments, every couple did, even those that were as deeply in love as they were, but they always made up afterwards and their relationship was even stronger after that.

"I know you're still hurt that Leah didn't tell you she had met someone, a Shifter no less, and you have a right to be, as I to think she made a bad decision, however, it is her life and she is over 30 just as you are, so that means she's old enough to make our own decisions."

"I know you're right," Spencer said quietly, "but it's just that she used to come to me about everything. I remember very well how she cried on my shoulder when she found out about Conrad's treachery. I can't help but think of that little girl that I helped my parents raise along with her sister. Sometimes it's hard for somebody who's been a parent to let their children grow up and I was as much of one to Leah and Liya and the rest of my brothers and sisters as our own parents were. I knew she had been going through a hard time ever since her breakup with Conrad, and I ached to help her, even though I knew I couldn't as they're just some things that a big brother can't do for his little sister."

"Unfortunately, we can't live the lives for our loved ones whether they're our children or our brothers and sisters," Hotch said philosophically. "We must allow them to make their own mistakes because if they didn't they would learn nothing. Would I have liked to save Leah from all that heartache she experienced? Of course, I would have just as you would, since I love her to. Unfortunately, though you can't really go through life and not experience some emotional devastation whether that's the loss of a parent, an uncle, aunt, cousin, a child, a friend or a sibling. We have to allow Leah to work out her problems on her own and only interfere if she asked for it and she didn't."

"I know," Spencer said quietly, "I know."

"At least Leah did eventually come to us, even if she met someone, fell in love, got pregnant and went through that very difficult pregnancy with just Adnan and his mother for support. We should be grateful that she's happy and that she did have support to get through a very difficult pregnancy, which hopefully, will be easier on her next time she decides to have pups," Hotch said.

"So what did you think of Leah's mate, Adnan?" asked Spencer changing the subject.

"I think he's a good man and that I could learn to at least become friends with him. He really cares about Leah, which is a given considering they are mates, but still some Shifters tend to be be rude or abrupt or gruff to their True Mate, even if they still love and care about them, but they aren't as gentle or tender as others are. Of course, you have to at least have similar personalities and some of the same interests to be True Mates, but any relationship whether it's a True Mate one or just a normal one is different, since every Shifter, Normal or wizarding kind have different personalities."

"Yes, I think they're good match too," Spencer agreed, "at least from what I get from Adnan just from talking to him for a couple of hours, he does seem like a good man and Leah obviously adores him, which means that he treats her right, because she isn't the kind of person to stick around if he's abusing her and she would likely poison him or something like that if he did."

"No, Shifter would abuse their mate," Hotch said, "because if their mate was hurt because of them, they would be hurt to and I'm not just talking about emotionally, but mentally and physically as well. A Shifter would never forgive themselves if they say hit heir mate, just because they were angry, even if it was say a little slap on the cheek. Of course, being rough when making love is different, because both the Shifter and their mate whether they be another Shifter or not enjoy the experience, but to deliberately hurt their mate, no its not going to happen."

"Because the mate in question, would likely try to kill themselves or possibly their mate, since they can't leave, due to the bond," Spencer said.

"That's one thing you're forgetting," Hotch added.

"What's that?" asked Spencer.

"That the bond that's between mates won't allow the other to deliberately harm the other half of their soul, because it would be like hurting yourself and the other mate would feel the slap on the cheek through the bond and how much it hurt the one you love the most."

"Yeah, I had actually forgotten that or at least, I hadn't thought about it a long time since that's never happened with us," Spencer said in sudden understanding.

"And it won't," Hotch said hugging his mate to him. "Any Shifter stupid enough to abuse their mate, will feel what the other feels at least fivefold, which can make them incredibly ill."

"Just like we feel, both our climaxes when we are making love as we feel every sensation of pleasure from both of us, which is why making love is always so spectacular and why it never gets boring, even though we've been mated for decades and made love at least 500 or 600 times by now and it's likely more than that as that's just a rough estimate."

"We both still enjoy it just as much as we did that first time, don't we?" Hotch said his tone smug.

"Absolutely," Spencer immediately agreed. "I'll never get enough of you entering my body, or the things you do before you actually get to that point. I don't really care if you're tender or rough since I enjoy both ways and I know you'll never hurt me."

"I like when you enter my body as well, although I know that doesn't happen more than every once in awhile since I like being in control even when we're making love," Hotch said.

"Which is fine with me, although I do appreciate that you trust me and let me be on top sometimes, even if that doesn't happen very often," Spencer said.

"Even when we get old I will never stop enjoying fucking you senseless and I know you feel the same," Hotch said. "By the time we reach a hundred I doubt very much we'll have the energy to keep it up like we do now, but that doesn't mean we will stop having sex just that we won't have as many climaxes before we finally fall asleep exhausted."

"Which is fine since our relationship is about more than fucking each other senseless, as enjoyable is that always is," Spencer said cuddling very comfortably into his mate's side enjoying the body heat he produced. "Isn't that what you told me once a few years back? Before I started working at the BAU and we went out to dinner?"

"I did," Hotch said remembering that conversation. "It was true then and it's true now. Our relationship is about much more than just staying in bed making love as much as the two of us enjoy doing that."

"Yes, it is," Spencer said remembering a recent date that he and Aaron had been on just a couple of weeks ago. "You know I think Adnan is going to be a good addition to the family and so will our little nephews and niece once we actually get a chance to meet them that is."

"Yes, I agree," Hotch said. "You know when Leah decided to settle in India I bet she didn't suspect that her future laid there."

"Likely not," Spencer agreed immediately, "as Leah is no seer. I'm glad it did happen though, because I can already tell that she's far happier with Adnan then she has been ever since her breakup with Conrad, who I think she let get to her for way to long. I think she should've been happy and dated a lot more than she has until she met Adnan just to get back at him, even if he never knew it."

"A bad breakup like what happened to Leah and Conrad can change you and it's certainly changed Leah," said Hotch.

"Yes, she's changed a lot," Spencer said looking sad. "She'll never be the same person she was when she was 20 or 21 thanks to Conrad."

"Yes, but people change as they grow and mature anyway and although both of us ache for what happened to Leah that's still part of life, no matter how little we like it," Hotch said. "We both had our trials to and it helped turn us into who we are today and the same can be said for Leah or anybody who has ever lived. We can't live her life for her or anybody or as I said earlier they would never learn nothing because we would be placing them in a bubble."

"You're right we can't keep the ones we love isolated from the real world," Spencer said. "You know it's ironic that three people in the same family have Shifters for mates, because the odds of that ever happening…"

"I think the only reason that hasn't happened very often before is that there're are so many people in the world," Hotch suggested, "and only about 10,000,000 are Shifters. People rarely leave where they grow up, except for things like vacation or college or maybe go to some big city to get a job, but mostly they stay in the same city they were born in. Some people don't of course, since they want to get away from their families or because they come from a small town where jobs are scarce, but mostly they do."

"You're saying the likelihood of a Shifter finding their mate when they don't travel much, except on short trips, well, they're astronomical," Spencer said. "I mean the likelihood of a Shifter and their mate being in the same city just on a vacation or something are high and you know the really ironic thing is that both the Shifter and their mate arriving in the same city after the other had left, which I'm sure has happened at some point."

"It likely has," Hotch agreed. "The world after all it is a big place and there's no rule that says your mate has to be the same ethnicity you are."

"Or even different sexes," Spencer said the amusement clear in his voice.

"Or even different sexes," Hotch agreed, "although there are far more gay couples then there are lesbian ones and why that is I have no idea."

"Probably because they're not as many women who like their own sex," Spencer suggested. "There are some of course, just a smaller percentage."

"Sex doesn't matter when a Shifter finds their mate," Hotch reminded his lover. "Most of us are taught not to concentrate on a specific sex, because your mate might be totally different, so even if you believe you like women, your mate might be the same sex you are or vice versa. Of course, some Shifter families don't teach this, because they don't want their children to look for their mate among their own sex, although some still find them, despite how they were raised, but when they do they often struggle with their own sexuality, because they were taught that they should only like one particular sex, which ever one is opposite of what they are."

"That's really sad," Spencer said his voice filled with compassion. "If people would stop being so concerned about stuff that doesn't really matter the world would be much better place and in much better shape. I mean, so what if a Shifter finds their mate among their own sex or even if a Normal does, why does it matter?"

"It's all about the continuation of the bloodlines," Hotch suggested, "at least in some cases."

"And also about the fact how some families don't want what what they consider perverts for children, because in the world's view it's not normal to like your own sex, because you can't produce children with two men or two women being together, even if there are other options for that nowadays."

"Like adoption as there are plenty of sweet children in orphanages that lost their parents through no fault of their own," Hotch said.

"Or if that fails there's always IVF, although I know that's the expensive option, but if you're desperate to have a child of your own a lot of families are willing to go through it," Spencer said.

"We had better head up the bed as it's getting late and we do have to work in the morning," Hotch suggested.

"Don't wanna!" Spencer whined snuggling even closer into his mate's side. "I'm comfortable right where I am."

"Me too, but still we need to go up to bed," Hotch said and Spencer sighed and looking extremely reluctant sat up Hotch doing to same.

"Well, if you insist," Spencer said.

"I do," Hotch said putting on around his mate's shoulders. "We can just go snuggle in bed instead of on the couch."

"Alright then," Spencer agreed kissing his mate's cheek.

The two men headed for the staircase so they could go up to the fourth floor where their room was located.

"You know it's amazing to me that we're going to get so many nephews so close together because Andrew's due to go in for that c-section, in just a couple of days and he's carrying all boys to," Spencer said.

"Yes, that's true," Hotch admitted, "but you know it's really not so surprising because Leah would have probably been married years ago if Conrad hadn't such an asshole and not necessarily to Adnan, but to someone else."

"Now the only one we have to be concerned about is Chance as he's the only one that hasn't settled down," Spencer said. "Hudson and Bronwyn settled down years ago, right after their graduation actually and have several children apiece, Natalie has settled down and has several children, even Leah has found someone and also has several children."

"You forgot to mention Liya," Hotch said.

"No, I did not I was just getting my breath back," Spencer replied, "and yes, even Liya has settled down about three years ago and she's getting ready to welcome her first set of girl twins into the world. I'm not sure who Chance takes after, although I suppose he could be like Uncle Cole that got himself killed years ago, but since I never had a chance to meet him I can't be sure. In any case, he's the one I worry about the most and not necessarily about him being reckless enough to get himself killed, but more about him fathering children left and right as he isn't exactly the most responsible person I've ever known and he might not think about using protection when he's having sex with some woman and if he's really unlucky the woman or women won't be on the pill either. I just hate the thought of Chance self-destructing."

"Yes, I have to agree I won't be surprised if some woman shows up on our doorstep or the doorstep of one of your brothers or sisters sometime in the near future with a little bundle of joy or even two of them. I'm not so worried about that happening to Leah since she lives in India or to Bronwyn since she and her husband live in California, or Natalie since she and her husband moved to Michigan, so it's mostly just Liya, Hudson and Andrew and you since you still all live in the Washington/Virginia area, even if Andrew still works in New York at the Ministry of Magic."

"And who's to say that Chance hasn't fathered children all up and down the country since he's traveled a great deal and he's not exactly very responsible," Spencer added. "You know that Chance is in no way responsible enough to look after any children he's fathered if the mothers don't want them, but decides to not have an abortion so that means that the responsibility would fall to me or one of the others and you know I will never shirk that responsibility, however..."

"You have enough to deal with, and trying to talk to Chance and urge him to be responsible would be useless," Hotch finished his mate's thoughts easily.

"Exactly," Spencer immediately agreed, "I just hope he's responsible enough to give the women his contact number or at least one of his siblings contact numbers. It's not that I mind raising more children and I know most of my other siblings wouldn't mind either, however..."

"You want your brother to be responsible enough, to at least be part of their lives even if he doesn't want to take care of them," Hotch finished.

"And I'm not sure he'd be willing to do that either as he seems determined, to just travel the world, party and have sex with as many woman as possible," Spencer said with a snort of derision.

"Was Chance so wild as a little boy before your parents deaths?" asked Hotch curiously.

Spencer thought about it for a moment and then answered honestly, "A little, but he certainly wasn't so careless or thoughtless back then, so maybe our parents deaths affected him just as much as it affected the rest of us, just in a different way. Chance has always had a wild side, but it was much more tamed back when he was a child than it is now that he's grown up. He really didn't get too bad until after he graduated from that small school in Las Vegas. Now though I wouldn't be surprised to find that he's fathered a dozen children or more, from a dozen different women that he doesn't even know about and when they try to find him to get him to pay child support I doubt very much that they'll succeed, especially if they're muggles or even Shifters, as a wizarding family isn't exactly easy to locate, although our family do have records in the muggle world since our father was a muggle. I really hate to think of any child related to me ending up in an orphanage or worse being aborted or abused."

"I don't know what we can do about it though," Hotch said.

"Can we get Garcia to try to locate them?" asked Spencer. "You know have her take my DNA and then compare it to other children that are on record that were born say within the last ten years? Or just hack into hospital files in places that we know Chance has been and I'm sure in some cases he is listed as the father on record at the local hospital."

"And what would you do if Garcia was to discover that there are children with your blood out there?" asked Hotch with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Well, I would hire a private detective, to check on the children's welfare and make sure they were happy," Spencer began immediately. "If I was sure that they were loved and being well taken care of then I would just keep my eye on them, but wouldn't interfere with their upbringing. However, if I found one or more of them that was being neglected or had been left in an orphanage then I would do my best to fight my way through the legal system and adopt them. Getting the ones that were in an orphanage would be easy, because all I would have to do would be to get Chance to sign him or her over to me to raise and then show the legal document to whoever was in charge of the orphanage. However, the ones that were actually kept by their respective mothers, but were being neglected or abused then I would fight my way through court if I had to or even go the easier route by bribing the mothers to take the children off their hands and offer them a cash settlement out of court. I believe 25,000 dollars or so would do the talking for me and would leave most women happy to get rid of a child or children if it's twins, that they considered burdens. However, if the child or children were loved, but the family was in difficult financial circumstances I would have my lawyer contact them at first and have him assure them that I wasn't going to take their child away from them, but that I would like to offer them financial support for my niece or nephew or both."

"That's a very responsible," Hotch said proud of his mate knowing how hard it was for Spencer to allow any one of his blood to be raised by strangers, even if they were good people.

"I would of course, have a thorough background check done on whoever was responsible for my niece or nephew," Spencer added as if an afterthought.

"I can recommend you someone good to do the negotiations with the family if it becomes necessary," Hotch offered.

"Thanks, that would really help," Spencer said gratefully having forgotten temporarily that his mate had once been a federal prosecutor and therefore, would know a lot of lawyers.

"Hey I care about any children that Chance has fathered too," Hotch told him, "and I think you're taking a very responsible course of action so I want to help in anyway if I can. You could also ask for visitation rights, if you do find a family that is truly taking care of any children that Chance has fathered."

"Well, so long as they were fathered in the Washington or Virginia area, I could visit them frequently," Spencer said. "However, if they were born in other States and the women in question were muggles I wouldn't be able to visit more than once or twice a year, because how would I explain I was visiting so frequently like once a month?"

"Well, if the child starts showing signs of magic, you could tell the mother in question that you're a wizard and that you have other ways of traveling instantaneously, so that you could visit more frequently like on the weekends when we're not working."

"Now there's an idea," Spencer muttered thoughtfully, as he and Aaron lay in their king sized bed together. "I could also offer to help pay for their education and explain how young witches and wizards are educated and about tutors. If they didn't accept that their child was magical when I would take the parent to court, and you know they wouldn't dare talk about magic in front of all those people because the judge and all the jury would think she was crazy, which might put her in the loony bin and see me granted automatic custody, since I would be the closet relative, well besides, Chance. If it becomes necessary I would just take the child from her and erase her memory of ever having given birth, because I will not allow a child to be abused, especially one that has my blood."

"Yes, if it becomes necessary I can understand you doing that, even though both of us work in law enforcement," Hotch said. "I don't like it and I know you don't either, but I will support you if that situation ever comes up which hopefully, it won't."

"There is one problem though," Spencer said quietly.

"What's that?" Hotch asked curiously.

"There is a limitation as to how much a memory charm can handle," Spencer explained. "Unless I want to erase a person's whole mind or at least block their memories away from them, which would be a lot like having amnesia, I wouldn't be able to erase say 10 years worth of memories, as there would be way too many of them for me to get every single one, from the moment she got pregnant to the moment that the baby or babies was born to their childhood years and so forth. The memory charm can handle erasing a year, maybe two, because that is far fewer memories to deal with then 10 years or more and I am far less likely to miss some if I don't have hundreds or thousands to deal with. Not to mention her neighbors will wonder what happened to the child or children and that wouldn't be good either, since she might end up on trial for murder."

"I see what you mean," Hotch said slowly. "Also with a child that old there is no guarantee that they will accept being taken away from everything they've ever known and as much as it pains me to admit it you might just have to give them up as a lost cause if that occurs. You need to think positive though."

"What's positive about this situation?" asked Spencer.

"Well, you could meet an older child that's that's well-adjusted and whose mother raised him or her well. For all we know some of the mothers got married and the children have stepfathers who is caring and loves his wife's son or daughter, from her one night stand."

"There is that," Spencer admitted, "but you know I should've thought about the possibility of Chance fathering children from the time he was 18 to the present and kept better track of what he was up to. That was a oversight on my part, so I really hope that none of the children are in bad situations and if we're really lucky there will be no children that Chance fathered, even though I consider that possibility highly unlikely."

"I have to agree that the chance of your brother not fathering at least a few pups over the years and not taking responsibility for them are very slim indeed," Hotch said. "Of course, it's also very possible that he never knew about them, although Chance should have known that it was possible that he did get at least one or two women pregnant and I won't be in the least surprised if it's many more than that. However, many women take those birth control pills on a normal basis so there's probably not as many children out there as you and I believe even if I know that those pills aren't 100% effective and that not every woman takes them."

"I'll have Garcia start investigating in the morning," Spencer said, "as there is no point in bothering her this late at night. Besides, Chance could've been fathering children for the last 14 years, so a few more hours isn't going to matter."

Hotch silently agreed and Spencer laid his head on his mate's shoulder where Hotch put his arms protectively around him and closed his eyes drifting contentedly into slumber.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	21. Chapter 21

Two days later

Andrew went in to have his c-section and soon after three beautiful boys were born, all who were healthy and who weighed over 5 pounds apiece, which was big for triplets, but Andrew hadn't had the severe morning sickness throughout the entire pregnancy, like Leah for example had, which had helped, although in Leah's case the heat in India had contributed to her rather severe morning sickness and carrying multiples hadn't helped the situation. Besides, when it came to pregnancy everyone was different.

"They're beautiful," Spencer told his brother and Ryan as he held one of his new nephews.

"Thank you, we certainly think so," Ryan said happily, as he held another of his sons.

The triplets in question were of course, fraternal, since identical ones were so rare. All had inherited Andrew's brown hair, which wasn't surprising considering that brown was dominant over strawberry blonde. It was possible that some future children would get blonde hair because Andrew's and Spencer's mother had had that color, although it was more pure blonde then strawberry.

"So you said you were going to try this again in a couple of years?" asked Spencer with a raised at his brother.

"Yes, I'm willing to do it again because this one went extremely well, unlike with Leah," Andrew answered.

The whole family now knew what Leah had been up to for the last couple of years and all of them were mad to varying degrees about how she had kept it from them. It was Spencer, as head of the family that had calmed everyone down and reminded them that Leah had a right to her own life and that while he didn't think her decision was the right one, she had made it and therefore, it was over with since they couldn't change the past. They would support their sister now, even if not a single one of them was happy with her decision to keep such major changes in her life from them.

"The healers told her that it was likely the heat and also the fact that she was carrying five babies that caused her to have such severe morning sickness," Spencer told his brother. "The heat in India can get up to over 115°F in the summer and being pregnant doesn't help since the heat affects you more then it would otherwise."

"Maybe she should try to put a cooling charm on herself next time," Andrew suggested. "I would think that would at least help with her morning sickness, even if she still has it just not quite as bad."

"That's a good idea," Spencer said brightening, "and something I hadn't thought of. I'll suggest it to her next time I talk to her."

"So what are you going to name these adorable little boys?" Hotch questioned at a natural pause in the conversation.

"Well, we thought we'd name the oldest Albert," Ryan said, "after my father, although we'll likely call him Al for short. For the second and we thought we'd use Kaine except with a K Instead of a C and finally we thought Felix for the third."

"They are all good names," Hotch said and Spencer nodded in agreement.

"Do you realize we probably have one of the largest families in the world? I mean between the 8 of us 7 of whom are married and have children of their own, we have close to a 100 in our immediate family alone, and that doesn't count distant relatives, like Ryan's parents or Hotch's siblings most of whom I've only met once or twice, and if you count those just related by marriage that number goes considerably higher," Spencer said.

"So have you discovered any children that Chance has fathered?" asked Andrew.

Andrew had been told just yesterday that his twin brother might have fathered quite a few children on different women and in retrospect he should have known that could probably happen because his brother Chance was certainly capable of it and also of refusing to take responsibility for the tiny lives he'd created.

"Not yet, but it's only been less then 48 hours, so we'll have to give Garcia a little time," Spencer told his brother. "I'll tell you what she uncovers when I know, but only if you promise that you won't try to contact any of these women on your own."

"But Spencer…" Andrew began.

"No, you will listen to me on this you hear me Andrew Darin Reid!?" Spencer barked using his authoritative tone, which was a very rare occurrence. "We will not disturb the lives of the children's families unnecessarily. I'm going to hire a private detective and do a thorough background checks on all of them, but as I told Aaron just the other day that if the children are well-adjusted and happy we will not disrupt their family life."

"And if they're not?" Ryan asked speaking for the first time in awhile.

"Well, it depends on the situation," Spencer explained more calmly. "If the children are loved, but the family is short on money, then I thought I'd offer financial assistance through an intermediary, probably a lawyer that Aaron is going to recommend. Now if the children are not wanted and they're young enough, like two or three then I will fight the mother in court if they're not being taken care of properly, well either that or pay her off to get custody of the child. Now if one or more of them has ended up in an orphanage, that will be the easiest situation to resolve since I just need to do a blood test to prove that they are related to me and have Chance sign over legal custody."

"So what do you think Garcia will find?" Ryan asked.

"I'm not really sure," Spencer admitted. "I suspect that she'll find at least a few children that Chance has fathered probably off different women. I'll be very surprised if they isn't at least one set of twins since they do tend to run in our family, although that's usually on the women's side. However, we also have to take into consideration the fact that a lot of women take those pills that prevent pregnancy, although they're not always 100% effective even on a normal woman and that's not even considering a female Shifter and that those pills a lot of time don't prevent them from getting pregnant. I really don't know what Garcia is going to dig up and what I'm going to do will depend a lot on what she does find."

"Spencer and I are really hoping that we won't find more than a couple of children that Chance has fathered," Hotch said, "However, neither of us will be surprised if it turns out to be considerably more than that."

"Chance is going to self-destruct one of these days," Andrew said said shaking his head looking sad.

"Hopefully not," Spencer said, although he silently agreed with Andrew's opinion.

"I'm not sure who in the family he takes after since he definitely doesn't take after you or me or any of our other siblings," Andrew added.

"Well, I was thinking awhile back that he might take after Uncle Cole, you know our mother's brother that got himself killed as a teenager. I don't know for sure of course, but Uncle Cole seemed a little bit wild just like Chance is, at least from what little I know of him anyway," Spencer said.

"Well, if that's the case I sincerely hope that Chance doesn't self-destruct or get himself killed like Uncle Cole did," Andrew said. "I love him dearly, but I'm not unaware of his faults."

"I love him too, but you're right," Spencer said. "I'm not unaware of his faults either. Unfortunately, there's not really anything we can do to stop him since he's a grown man and if either of us dared try to actually tell him what to do or give him advice that would just push him even farther from his family. Any of us barely see him as it is, as he seems determined to party his life away. Well, that and have sex with as many women as possible without taking responsibility if he happens to get a woman pregnant, because we all know that he's not responsible enough to think about using a condom most of the time and you can't depend on a women being on the pill, even if she says she is."

"I only hope that he didn't actually use magic on any of those women to get them to have sex with him, because if he did that's an offense that could land him in prison," Andrew said looking worried.

"I doubt even Chance would go that far," Spencer said with more confidence and he felt. "He's very charismatic and can get as many women as he wants without having to break the law like that. All he would have to do would be to use his looks and charm on women as a lot of them fall for that, sort of thing."

"You'll let me know what Garcia finds, right?" asked Andrew.

"Of course, as I said so long as you promise not to butt in to any of the children's family lives," Spencer said glaring at his brother to let him know that he was not unaware that he had not promised to not interfere.

"Andrew," Ryan said quietly looking at his mate. "I do not think what Spencer is requesting is unreasonable and you know this. Let him handle it and if he needs help I'm sure he'll ask you. You could make a situation worse if you try to interfere and that's the last thing any of us need."

"They're my nieces and nephews though and since Chance is my twin I should have a part in this," Andrew said looking stubborn.

"You'll be a major part of their lives," Spencer promised his brother. "You and Ryan can even raise them if you wanted to since you do have the room, but until that time comes I'm requesting that you stay out of it."

"Alright," Andrew agreed finally looking depressed. "I swear I will get involved until you say I can."

"Good," Spencer said. "Hey cheer up, you just got through a c-section with no problems and now have three beautiful little boys," Spencer told his brother with a smile. "I promise I'll keep you in the loop as to any developments."

"They are gorgeous," Andrew admitted smiling for the first time since the conversation had begun, "and I'm not prejudiced at all, am I?"

"Of course not!" the other three men in the room answered all smiling and relaxing now that Andrew had agreed not to interfere with any information that Garcia dug up.

"You know in retrospect I probably should've kept a closer eye on where Chance went and what he got involved in," Spencer said still looking upset that he hadn't kept a closer eye on his wild sibling. "Anybody else in the family is responsible and would have remembered to use a condom, or take a potion to prevent pregnancy, but not Chance. You and the others I didn't really need to keep an eye on once you were all grown up, but Chance is different."

"Boy is he," Andrew muttered. "I know Chance and I are twins, but I'm nothing like him except in looks."

"Your fraternal, which means that you and Chance only share 50% of your DNA," Spencer told his brother. "In other words, you are no more genetically related then any of our other siblings are to each other or you are to them, just that you happened to share a womb and be born within minutes of each other."

"I share more similarities with the rest of my siblings and I do to Chance, despite the fact that we were born at the same time," Andrew said. "Other than the fact that we look almost exactly alike, we certainly don't have any of the the same personality traits."

"Well, siblings can be wildly different from each other," Spencer said with a shrug, "although I have to admit that even fraternal twins, or triplets or other multiples usually have at least similar personalities with differences, of course, but Chance…well, he's our wildcard or black sheep and where out of the gene pool he came from I don't have a clue."

"He probably is like Uncle Cole, even if we never know for sure," Andrew said.

"Yes, but if he is where did Uncle Cole get his wild nature from? Is he the first one to act like that or are there others that we don't know about?" asked Spencer.

"We'll probably never know," Andrew said. "I doubt very much that any of the family that wrote in those journals, wrote down about their relatives misbehavior, since it would be even more embarrassing back a couple of centuries ago than it is today."

Spencer nodded in agreement, but didn't respond verbally as he was too busy cuddling one of his newest nephews and kissing him on the forehead.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Two weeks later

Spencer read the information that Garcia had dug up for him rapidly and he frowned the further he got.

"Okay, what's the bad news?" Hotch urged his mate to tell him why he was frowning so fiercely. At the moment Spencer's face was like a thunder cloud which meant that whatever he had read must've been really bad.

The two of them sat in the den, with the TV on mute and Hotch kept one eye on the news and the other on his mate.

"They're are more then 20 children in the records from hospitals in various cities that are related to me or at least Chance is listed as the father," Spencer said finally looking up after finishing the information that Garcia had found. "Garcia put a note on the bottom of the last page that says she's still looking. In any case, several sets of those are twins, which I expected, but..."

"You never expected so many to pop-up," Hotch finished.

"No, and that doesn't even include ones, where Chance isn't listed as the father on the birth certificate. I expected maybe half a dozen, but not this many and Garcia is just getting started," Spencer said frowning in thought.

"So how many families and States are we talking about?" asked Hotch.

"Well, five of those are sets of twins, which is more than I expected but still..." Spencer frowned again seeming deep in thought.

"So you're going to hire a private detective to investigate the families?" asked Hotch.

"And also have Garcia dig up every bit of information that can be found and do a background check on these woman to and also their spouses if they have them. In any case, after the question you asked me earlier, this starts back when he was about 25 and goes to the present and there haven't been any children that Garcia has found that's been born in the last couple of years.

"So he's fathered 20 children in what six years?" asked Hotch frowning now.

"Yes, about that, and even with half of them being twins that's still like two women a year that he's gotten pregnant and there's no telling what else Garcia will dig up, which would have been much harder if I hadn't known at least some of the places that Chance has been in the last 14 years. He's fathered at least one child in every state I know he's visited and it's usually more then that," Spencer added shaking his head. "He has got to be the most irresponsible person I've ever known and I think he should have a vasectomy if he isn't going to settle down and have a family and I shudder to think what else Garcia will uncover."

"So did Garcia find any that are in orphanages?" asked Hotch.

"No, not at the moment but that doesn't mean she won't," Spencer said. "You know I could have nipped this problem in the bud years ago or at least controlled it to an extent if only I had the foresight to keep a better eye on Chance who is apparently very prolific. Why oh why couldn't he be one of those men that isn't so vital that he gets a woman pregnant easily and how does he choose women that are apparently not on birth control so many times?"

"Well, as you said you couldn't exactly lock him up once he was grown up," Hotch said entirely sympathetic with his lover's predicament. Those children were of his mate's blood and so he could certainly understand that Spencer at least wanted to get to know them and he would only take them away from their families if he had to, but would prefer not to since that would upset the children lives so Hotch was really hoping that at least most of them were in happy homes.

"So what are their ages?" asked Hotch.

"Well, they range anywhere from 2 to 6," Spencer said frowning again. "You know I wonder if I can make my brother impotent without him noticing."

"Would you really do that to you own brother?" asked Hotch startled.

"Yes, I would," Spencer said firmly. "I mean come on Aaron, 20 children in six years...six. I shudder to think how many others he's fathered without taking responsibility for his actions. If he's fathered 20 kids in just 6 years imagine how many he could have fathered in 14."

"I really don't want to," Hotch said now shuddering. "You're right, if your brother could father 20 kids in just six years even if half of those are twins then he could have fathered 50 or more in 14. Making your brother impotent is sounding better all the time."

"We also have to remember that magical folks live for centuries and a man never loses his ability to be able to father children, which is why something has to be done. If he's already fathered 20 kids in six years I shudder to think how many he would father in 300 which is the average wizard's life span so making him impotent seems like the only solution and if I have my way he'll never be able to trace it back to me if he ever figures out that it's a spell that made him impotent and not something physical. I should be able to do it using wandless magic and it's a good thing I'm so good at it because I don't think I could take out my wand and put a spell on him without him noticing unless he's very drunk or unconscious. It might be considered wrong to do this to your own brother, but considering the circumstances..." Spencer hit the papers he was holding so hard they flew out of his hand then hit the floor, scattering all over the place. "Garcia still has from ages 18 to 24 to sort through and she's doing a very good job of tracing his movements backwards, but it takes time and I know that. I think she's done a very good job so far and even gave me the names of the families, mothers, fathers in some cases and the names of the children. I shudder to think how many illegitimate little Potters would be running around if Uncle Cole had lived past his 14th birthday. It's not that I object to a lot of nieces and nephews, I love children, you know that, but Chance never bothered to find out if his one night stands were pregnant or use protection. He should at least be paying child support, although with that many children that's a very expensive proposition, but still it would be the proper and right thing to do."

"I agree," Hotch said, as calmly as possible.

It was rare for his mate to get worked up like this, but in this instance Hotch agreed with everything his Spencer had just said. Spencer had said a few minutes ago when he had never known anybody as irresponsible as Chance and neither had he. It wasn't like people like Chance didn't exist, but it was a different matter when they were part of your family.

"Is there a way to stop him from fathering children, but allow him to still have sex with them?" asked Hotch curiously.

"I don't know," Spencer admitted. "I would hate to take away his ability to get it up as the saying goes, but he has to be stopped someway and I don't want to kill him or anything. Maybe it he's impotent for a few years this will teach him to be responsible."

"Making him impotent seems extreme," Hotch said, "but since a man never loses his ability to father children as you said, it might be the only solution."

Spencer began to pace seeming deep in thought and Hotch just watched him wondering what was cooking in his mate's clever brain.

"You know I wonder…" Spencer began his voice trailing off.

"Wonder what?" asked Hotch with a raised eyebrow to show his curiosity, although his tone was mild.

"Well, remember when we met Susan a few years ago and she said she had tracked us down due to an automatically updating book that had the Potter family tree in it," Spencer asked.

"Yeah, so?" asked Hotch.

"Well, I'm wondering if we can either borrow that book from Harry or maybe figure out a way to make a copy of our own," Spencer explained. "That book should have every child that Chance has fathered in the last 14 years, illegitimate or not, which should at least make it easier to keep track of his conquests, although a little bit of detective work will still be involved."

"You know that's very good idea," Hotch said wondering why neither of them had thought of it before. Spencer at least should have remembered the Potter family tree that automatically updated since he never forgot anything, although he could be distracted and both of them had had a lot on their mind in the last couple of weeks.

"I'll contact Harry," Spencer said after checking his watch to see what time it was as there was a five hour time difference between Virginia and England. "I'm sure he'll be willing to help us out with this problem."

"Yeah, he will," Hotch agreed immediately, as he and Spencer had gotten know the Potters in the last few years and they visited frequently thanks to being able to use the Floo. Harry and Susan now had seven kids the last four of those being two sets of twins and Susan was pregnant again for the final time according to her and thanks for the fact that she was nearly 40 it was another set of twins.

Hotch didn't comment, on the fact that Harry and Susan would soon have nine pups considering he and Spencer had had 22 of their own, before they had finally stopped, though they had talked about having more, but thanks to Spencer deciding to join the FBI that had put a halt to actually doing that.

Spencer walked over to the fireplace in the living room and took a pinch of Floo powder from the container on the mantle. After the flames turned green Spencer got down on his knees and stuck his head into the flames after calling out the address.

Hotch watched this in fascination, although he had seen it on dozens of occasions now, but still magic was so strange and still utterly unreal sometimes, that even though he knew it existed it was still hard to wrap his mind around that fact. The way magical folks used to communicate fascinated him the most and was it any wonder? All his mate had to do was take a pinch of emerald green powder and throw it onto a roaring fire and then get down on his knees and stick his head into those flames.

Finally Spencer withdrew his head from the fireplace and stood up shaking off a little ash from his clothes.

"Harry says he'll be happy to loan it to us, but he has to go get it out of his vault and that it will be at least an hour," Spencer reported.

"Did you tell him why we needed to borrow it?" asked Hotch.

"No, because the Floo is not exactly very private and it's easy for other people to listen in. I told him I would explain when he got here," Spencer answered.

Hotch blinked at what Spencer had said having not known that some witch or wizard could spy on what was being said over the Floo, but he supposed it was a lot like listening into a phone call, since cell phones were easy to tap.

"So what do you think Garcia will find?" Spencer asked Hotch quietly as he came willingly into his mate's arms which were held open for him.

"I hate to say it, but I suspect that Garcia will find many more children and I'm sure that little book that Harry's bringing will confirm that," Hotch said.

"I wonder what caused Chance to be like he is?" Spencer mused. "I mean as I said earlier he's always had a wild side, but he was never this reckless or irresponsible. Something must have happened after he graduated that has caused him to act like this. I'm not saying he hasn't always had girls falling all over him because he has, but I don't think that just our parents deaths is the whole reason, although it might be the underlying cause."

"Bad breakup?" Hotch suggested. "Maybe he dated in school and she rejected him?"

"Like Leah?" Spencer said frowning. "I suppose it's possible, that he fell in love and then he proposed to her and she rejected him. If that's the case though this is the first I've heard about it. Somehow I don't think that's it, because surely his siblings or Andrew at least would have known about it and would have said something. It's possible it happened after he graduated though. If Garcia finds that he didn't start fathering children until he was in his mid 20s then that's when it happened. If your idea is right then he's on the rebound and has been for at least the last 8 years, although I think 20 or more kids is a bit ridiculous for a rebound from a bad breakup."

"Different people respond in different ways too bad breakups," Hotch reminded Spencer who nodded. "Leah for instance didn't date at all or at least not very much for a lot of years, until she and Adnan met."

"Alright, that's true enough," Spencer admitted, "and Chance hasn't fathered any children that Garcia has found in the last two years."

"You mean to say that Garcia hasn't found yet," Hotch cautioned his mate who nodded.

"Well, the book should tell us without Garcia having to continue to backtrack," Spencer said kissing his mate passionately, which Hotch responded to immediately and with equal passion.

The two of them continued to kiss, and were starting to get so lost in each other that they had to force themselves to stop since they were expecting a guest in just a few minutes.

"Later," Hotch told Spencer roughly, with intense lust in his voice. "As soon as Harry leaves I'm going to take you upstairs and fuck you senseless."

"I certainly am not going to object to that," Spencer told him with a wide grin, "especially since that's my favorite activity in the whole world. I just love being fucked by you and me doing the same to you on the rare occasions you allow me to be on top."

"That's been obvious ever since the beginning," Hotch told his mate with a lecherous smirk, which caused an extremely hormonal reaction in Spencer's body and his cock, which was already half hard, got even harder and stood even straighter as a result. He wanted Aaron badly, but then he always did, so it wasn't an unusual reaction at all.

"Well, if I hadn't been a virgin before the two of us met, maybe I wouldn't have loved having sex so much if it was just with some random female or even a steady girlfriend or boyfriend. Who knows if I would have enjoyed making love so much if anybody else had ever had access to that area of my body."

"Oh, you would have loved having sex by the time I was done with you," Hotch promised silkily, causing Spencer to visibly gulp lust and desire in his golden brown eyes. "Even if you had been like Chance and had a string of girlfriends or boyfriends before we met."

"You're probably right," Spencer admitted with a smile kissing his mate again. "I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the sexual act even half as much with those other people though as I do with you, because you just ignite something in me."

"Some people are just meant for one person alone," Hotch said philosophically. "I have known other people in the past, that dated, but nothing ever happened on those dates or afterwards until they met one special person. Some people are only made to fall in love once and that's definitely us."

"Yes, I have to agree," Spencer said, as he buried his nose in his mate neck and began to kiss him along his jawline.

"Stop that before I make love to you right here on the couch," Hotch ordered his mate gruffly.

"Go, right ahead," Spencer told him his voice husky with desire and lust, causing Hotch eyes to turn golden as the wolf within him came to the fore. "I don't mind at all."

"I'll never turn down an offer like that, not if I live to be a 100," Hotch growled his penis immediately as hard as stone, just at the thought of making love to his mate.

"Good," Spencer said with a grin since he had calculated his mate's response perfectly. "That was my plan all along."

"Well, it worked," Hotch said, as he gently pulled his mate onto his lap and began to kiss along his jawline just as Spencer had been doing to him a minute ago.

Spencer's breathing immediately deepened and he started panting eagerly. "More! Aaron! More!

"That is a demand that I'll gladly obey," Hotch said with a wolfish grin. "Strip! I intend to make love to you right here on this very comfortable couch, since you want me so badly."

"I always want you," Spencer told Hotch whose grin widened.

"Just as I always want you," Hotch told Spencer, before he continued kissing Spencer along the edge of his jaw and on the side of his neck the other man panting even more heavily than before.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Let's see," Spencer said, as he flipped through the book that Harry had delivered just a few minutes ago.

"So?" Hotch asked with a raised eyebrow as Spencer seemed absorbed in what he was seeing.

"Well, Chance has fathered quite a few children," Spencer said showing Hotch what he was looking at.

Hotch read the pages that Spencer had pointed out much more slowly then his mate and then looked up his expression one of stunned disbelief.

"So we weren't far off when we said he had probably fathered 50 children, even if at the time we were joking," Hotch said staring at the book in disbelief.

"No, we weren't," Spencer said shaking his head. "If my count is accurate, he's fathered 65 ever since he was 19 years old and he is now 32 just as Andrew is and even if quite a few of those are twins, that's still a lot of children."

"65 children in 13 years?" asked Hotch rhetorically trying to absorb the facts of what he had learned. "Something has gone wrong in your brother's head."

"As much as I hate to admit it I have to agree," Spencer said reluctantly.

The two sat silently for a few minutes as they contemplated the fact that there were 65 children that had been fathered by Chance without saying anything, even with a great many of them being twins that was still something like 6 to 7 children a year.

"You know a lot of these dates are awfully close together," Hotch finally pointed out. "Are you sure they match up with where you know Chance was at that time."

"Well, they wouldn't be in that book if they weren't Chance's." Spencer reread the book again or at least his brother's section as an idea begin to form slowly. "You know you're right some of these dates are only a few days or a few weeks apart, so do you think it's possible that Chance may have donated to a sperm bank or a lot of them actually? There are sperm banks in every major city and it's very possible that Chance donated, more than once to all of them over the last 13 years. There's no limit to how many children one person can father or donate sperm for even if they're talking about limiting the amount that one person can donate so there aren't to many children who are half siblings, but don't know it."

"Yes, that makes more sense," Hotch said slowly, "then Chance having 65 children since a lot of women take birth control pills. I'm not saying that the 20 Garcia found birth certificates that has his name on them as the father, aren't his, fathered in the normal manner, but most of them..."

"...Are likely where he donated his jizz to sperm banks," Spencer said. "You know that makes me feel better, however, I'm still going to have to have a talk with him about doing that if that turns out to be the case. As far as I know a wizard has never donated to a sperm bank before, much less as many times as Chance has. I won't be surprised to discover that magic runs in every single one of those children, especially since it's always run strong in the Reid family, thanks to my mother being a Potter as the Potters are some of the strongest magic users of every generation."

"You know if all these woman went to the trouble of going to a sperm bank to pick out a donor, most of them aren't going to be married and yet they really wanted a child or two. A lot of women use those banks, in order to have children even if they're single."

"And apparently Chance's sperm is a very popular pick," Spencer said somewhat sarcastically. "I wonder if Garcia could find out how many times Chance donated to the different banks. I know they like to keep their donors anonymous from people that use their services, but they're bound to keep records somewhere as they would have to for legal reasons."

"I hate to ask Garcia to go that far," Hotch said, "since it is against the law. The stuff she's found so far is mostly public information if you know where to look, except for hacking into hospital records, but the private records of a sperm bank are a different matter altogether."

"I hate to do it either, even though Garcia has already at least bent the law once already," Spencer admitted, "so maybe we should see what a private detective can turn up first before we ask her to actually break the law again. It isn't that Garcia wouldn't be willing to do it again, since I doubt those sperm banks have much security on their computers at places like that, so I doubt very much she would be caught, but still..."

"We should see what we can find legally before we decide to go that route," Hotch said finishing his mate's thought easily. "When she broke into those hospital records we didn't ask her to, she did it on her own, because she loves you like a son or at least a favorite nephew, but asking her to do something like breaking into the records of the sperm bank would be different."

"That was exactly my thought," Spencer agreed. "I will be asking her to run background checks, on the ones we know about as she can do it much faster than anybody else I know and should have the results in less than a week for all of them. So are you acquainted with any private detectives I can hire?"

"No," Hotch said, "as I never had to hire one."

"Well then, I guess I'll just have to look in the Yellow Pages," Spencer said, "but before I do that, I do believe you promised to take me upstairs and fuck me senseless after Harry left and I would like nothing more than for you to do that, to take my mind off this for a little while."

"It will be a pleasure," Hotch promised him his voice instantly becoming a seductive growl, causing desire and lust to shoot through Spencer's body like a lightning bolt. Hotch rose from his position on the couch and easily scooped up his mate his muscles rippling.

Spencer laughed at the suddenness of the action, but it stopped, when Hotch's lips descended on his, fiercely demanding, which Spencer responded to immediately and within seconds he was moaning into the kiss, begging for more.

"Wow!" Spencer breathed when Hotch finally released him.

"Yes, wow!" Hotch repeated kissing his mate one more time before heading for the stairs with the other man still in his arms.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"So you're telling me that there are 65 children out there that have my brother's DNA," Andrew said shaking his head in disbelief at what his brother was telling him.

It was just a few days since Spencer had borrowed the family tree book from his distant cousin Harry Potter. He, Spencer, Ryan and Hotch sat in the living room of Andrew's and Ryan's house where they were totally alone as the triplets were upstairs sleeping as was their caretaker.

"Yes, that's what I'm telling you," Spencer told Andrew with the sympathetic smile. "Aaron and I are positive that most of the children exist because Chance donated his jizz to sperm banks in every city he's visited, more than once. However, Garcia did track down 20 children that were fathered naturally from ten different women as his name is on the babies birth certificates."

"That's a lot of children," Andrew said, gulping and wondered how his brother, his twin could be so irresponsible.

"It is, but at least we know that most of them are being cared for, because you don't go to a sperm bank unless you really want a child, since the process is expensive. I mean even after the woman chooses whose sperm to use you still have to have the embryo or embryos surgically implanted and then keep going back for doctors appointments, to make sure the embryo took and is actually growing into a baby or babies. From the information that Garcia has been able to track down 15 of those women had twins, which means that they had two embryos implanted, although I suppose it is possible that at least one set of those are identical, where the embryo split naturally."

"So what are we going to do about this situation?" asked Andrew tentatively completely at a loss at what to do in this situation.

"Well, I'm going to have a talk with your brother and get his wizard's oath to not donate his jizz to sperm banks anymore, although I wouldn't be surprised if we got a few more, children being born in the next five or so years, because there is no telling how much sperm Chance donated and I doubt very much that he'll remember. As for the 20 children, that he actually fathered naturally with women, 5 sets of which are twins I'm having a private detective investigate them and also having Garcia do a thorough background check on all of them.

"And what about the other 45?" asked Ryan speaking for the first time.

"Well, that's where it gets more difficult," Spencer admitted. "Those women that used a sperm bank really wanted children whether that was just one or even if it was two like it was in 15 women's cases, to me that means that they'll be loved and cared for and that the women have the money to look after them properly, because no woman would choose to go through that type of process unless they really wanted a child or children of their own and they have the money to raise them well."

"Yes, I have to agree," Ryan said with a nod. "That process to have an embryo implanted into a woman's womb is pretty expensive from what I know about it and I can't see any women going to that much trouble or expense unless they really wanted a child of their own."

"Especially since the process to implant an embryo into a woman's womb might not work the first time and it might take a few trial runs before it actually catches," Spencer said

"What do you mean by catches?" asked Andrew as he knew absolutely nothing about the process of implanting the embryo into a woman's womb.

"Well," Spencer began going into lecture mode. "An embryo is a mixture of a man's sperm and a woman's egg along with a nutrient broth. It then has to sit in a petri dish for a few days, where the cells begin to divide and after 3 to 5 days, the embryo is implanted into the woman's uterus. The embryo is not considered a fetus until it is at least two months along, sometimes however, even though the doctors are really careful to implant the embryo into the uterine wall, nothing comes of it as the cells of the embryo don't continue to divide and turn into a fetus, which is what I meant by catching. A lot of times women have to have this done several times before it actually becomes a viable pregnancy. There was a law that was created in 2013 that says that the doctors can't implant more than two embryos into a woman."

"Why?" asked Ryan who had not known this.

"Well, at one point the doctors were transferring too many embryos in the hope of achieving a viable pregnancy," Spencer explained. "The law was created to cut down on multiple births as carrying too many fetuses can kill a woman and the babies were all either stillborn or didn't survive more than a few days. I'm not talking about twins or triplets, as a lot of times 7 or 8 or even more embryos were transferred and sometimes at least most of them caught. Human beings weren't meant to carry that many babies or fetuses at one time and although the parents can reduce the number of viable fetuses, a lot of them choose not to, since a lot of people consider all life to be precious. Very rarely, seven or eight children will be conceived naturally, but most of the time they do not all survive once born, although medical technology is improving to the point that it has happened once or twice. Still septuplets and octuplets are extremely rare, at least without the help of IVF. In any case, I'm also going to have background checks done on those women, but there's not really much I can do about it beyond that and neither can you," Spencer added seeing his brother looked ready to protest.

"The most we can do legally is keep a distant eye on the families," Hotch told Andrew and Ryan speaking for the first time since their initial greeting. "We have absolutely no might interfere in the lives of those women whether Chance's jizz was used or not. As far as we know Chance was not forced to donate his jizz to the sperm bank and it was done on his own free will and none of us may like it, but those women have broken no laws, so there's absolutely nothing we can do legally. The most we can do is to get Chance's wizard's oath that he won't donate anymore of his sperm to any of those banks."

"I know that's not what you want to hear," Spencer told his brother. "It wasn't particularly what I wanted to hear either, but unfortunately, we can't break the law just because our brother's sperm, was used. Yes, I know that those are your nieces and nephews, they are mine too, but unless, we are contacted or we find someway to contact them that sounds plausible there's absolutely nothing we can do as little as either one of us likes it."

"You're right," Andrew conceded in a defeated tone of voice. "I hate it, but you're right."

"Hey cheer up, you have enough to keep you busy so that you won't dwell on this, like those three adorable boys of yours," Spencer told his brother. "Also you might consider the fact that once the children are grown...well, it would be okay to contact them. It's likely they'll all know about magic as I'll be very surprised if they don't all inherit it considering it runs so strongly in our family, although anything is possible of course."

"But what if their parents don't accept that they have magic?" Andrew said worriedly. "We all know that happens sometimes in families that don't have at least one magical member.

"I plan on keeping a very close eye on the situation," Spencer promised his brother. "I'll step in if necessary, although I really don't want to have to do that. I also plan on talking to your brother sometime in the very near future and explain to him exactly why it's not a very good idea for a magical person to donate, their jizz to a sperm bank. I don't think your brother was thinking about the consequences at all. It's true that there are a lot of muggle families that produce a magical child, but if you could trace their lineage back far enough more than likely you would find that they've had witches and wizards in their family tree in the past, even if it was centuries ago. As we all know magic just doesn't run as strong in some families as it does in others."

All the people in the room knew this to be true, although it had never been discovered why just that it did happen.

"However, the reason it is not a good idea for a magical person to donate your jizz to a sperm bank is that it is likely that a magical child will be born and while this in itself is not a bad thing, having so many children born who can do magic to muggle families is not necessarily a good thing and we all know why."

"Because that means even more muggles find out about us," Ryan said. "Ones that might cause trouble, since so many muggles believe that having magic is because you are possessed by the devil or at least a demon and sometimes they refuse to let their children attend any school of magic, which means that they never learn to control it. If they don't learn to control it it can burst out when that person is angry or any strong emotion really and cause rather unusual effects that are visible in the world. Things flying around without the use of hands for example, or stuff crashing to the ground from a high shelf, anything really, just with no explanation that makes sense of how it happened."

"Exactly," Spencer said with a nod in Ryan's direction. "There's also the added problem of having too many half siblings that don't know about each other and it's possible they could meet and get involved in a romantic relationship and if they look different enough from each other they would never know that they were related, unless they took a blood test. With just one or two or even ten, that isn't too likely, however, the more the numbers increase, the more likely that is. I doubt very much that Chance was thinking about the problems that having so many half siblings that don't know about each other could cause. Of course, that last problem with having too many half siblings that don't know that other's exist, is a muggle one to, not just a magical one. Now I can certainly understand that donating your jizz one or two times or even ten, to a sperm bank in different cities in order to help women who have trouble conceiving, but not as many times as Chance has done it."

"Spencer and I also believe that at least one of those women that went to the sperm bank was a Shifter," Hotch added having said very little.

"Why do you say that?" asked Ryan immediately before Andrew could.

"Because there is one woman that has quadruplets, two of each sex, that were born within minutes of each other," Spencer explained. "Now while having two embryos implanted into a Normal is all that is allowed by law, a Shifter is different and up to four embryos is allowed since they usually have multiple births when they do it the normal way. Of course, that doesn't mean it's not possible that it is identical triplets and a singleton or two sets of identical twins or even identical quads, but the possibility that the one with quadruples is a Shifter is much higher, around 90% actually since quadruplets for Normals are so rare, well unless they happen to be mated to a Shifter, which isn't the case in this instance. This is doubly true of identical ones."

"Well, Shifters have children all the time, even if they're not married or mated, just like normals or magical folks do," Ryan said and Hotch nodded in agreement, "so you're probably right that the woman with the quadruples is some kind of Shifter. Of course, I never fathered any children before I met Andrew, although I won't claim I didn't have sex with a few woman, but still this woman that has the quads was probably desperate, as she might be getting on years and reaching the end of her fertile cycle. I wouldn't be surprised to discover that she was at least in her early forties and since Shifters aren't fertile any longer then a Normal, that means late 40s to early 50s depending on the woman, since a woman's fertility can vary."

"Well, we'll know sometime in the next few weeks as the private investigator I'm going to hire will be thorough I'm sure," Spencer said.

"You'll let us know the results?" Andrew asked and Spencer nodded in confirmation

"I will," Spencer promised.

The four of them continued to chat for a few minutes, before Hotch and Spencer took their leave.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

A month later

Spencer held the report from the private investigator in his hands and read through it rapidly, as he sipped coffee and sat in his favorite recliner in the den.

What he read was encouraging for the most part, although they're were a few bleak spots as well. According to the detective he hired whose name was Quincy Hatcher, all the children were happy and well-adjusted except for four, one set of boy/girl twins, and two single children both boys with two different mothers. The ones that were created from the sperm donations from his brother Chance were luckily, all well-adjusted and loved, just as he had predicted. However, four of the ones that Chance had fathered on women naturally by having sex with them, weren't doing so well. The twins Cooper and Ceridwen were given very little attention that all children needed, especially since they were only three years old, although at least they had each other. The twins didn't understand why their mother left them with just a babysitter so often and they were lucky to get any attention from their mother at all. From what Quincy could gather they were receiving very little love in that house as the mother was always either working or going out to bars trying to attract men. Just in the month that Quincy had been watching the mother she had already brought several unsavory men home and when she did she locked her twins in their room by themselves and didn't care if she fed them, just so long as they were out of sight and also they were dressed in rags. Spencer was actually surprised, that they had been potty trained, as it was possible they hadn't been or that they could feed themselves considering how little the adults in their lives cared about them. Quincy had managed to get several pictures, although he would have likely had to break into the apartment in order to do it, because the twins rarely left, as their mother or the babysitter for that matter didn't take them to the park or anywhere. Spencer wondered, as he read his anger growing why the mother Lara Johnson just hadn't dropped them off at an orphanage, even though that wouldn't have been much better, but at least they would've been fed on a regular basis. This Lara Johnson was not one to accept that magic was real and Spencer had to come up with a plan to get his niece and nephew out of there. He was going to have to pay her off he just knew it and while he hated to do such a thing as she didn't deserve the extra money, he would do it if it would prevent his niece and nephew from being dragged through a court battle and he had a feeling that she would accept the money that was offered, although his lawyer might have to haggle a little, though he was willing to go up $250,000 if necessary.

The picture of the twins was kind of grainy which told Spencer that Quincy had probably taken it from outside one of the windows of the apartment, without actually going inside, which relieved him a lot because that meant that Quincy had not broken into the apartment and therefore, broken the law.

Spencer studied the photo that Quincy had managed to snap without being noticed and despite the bleariness of it he couldn't help but notice the similarities between the twins and his brother Chance, both Cooper and his sister Ceridwen had dark brown hair the exact same shade as Chance's and his own and also their father's blue eyes. Of course, those weren't the only similarities, as they also had the shape of Chance's eyes and not just the color, his nose, chin and cheekbones as well.

As for the other two children their situation was just as bad and in someways much worse. The reason it was worse was that one boy lived with his mother who was a whore and therefore, she was always having johns back to her very small apartment, which was only one small bedroom, a living room and a very narrow kitchen. The boy's name was Rafe and he was only 4 years old. How Rafe had survived, considering he was left alone a lot, as his mother Louise, went searching for her johns, so she could make enough to support herself and her young son. Spencer accurately guessed that young Rafe had been left alone quite frequently by his mother as according to Quincy there was no babysitter to look after the young boy's needs while his mother was absent, which was for quite a few hours every day. Quincy had also said that it was obvious that Louise adored her young son, but her lifestyle wasn't conducive to raising a child and Spencer had to agree. The last boy Fenwick, or Fen for short had been dropped off on the doorstep of an orphanage and it was the caretakers of that place that had named him. Fen was getting fed three meals a day, even if it was poor and cheap, however, he was bullied quite severely by some of the older boys and girls who considered him strange and Spencer knew, even though he was only two years old it was likely his magic was starting to emerge. Fen fortunately, would be the easiest to rescue and wouldn't even cost him very much money not that that mattered to him, the other three however, we're going to be more difficult.

Spencer considered every possible angle to what could go wrong when they rescued all the children and he was so absorbed that he didn't even hear his mate calling his name at first.

"Spencer? You in here?" Hotch called.

"Here!" Spencer finally called from where he was laying in his favorite recliner with his eyes closed.

"You okay?" asked Hotch in concern. "You didn't answer me when I called you and I was going to check here next. The library of course, is the first place I looked."

"Sorry, I was thinking so deeply that I didn't hear you call me," Spencer answered honestly.

"So what has you so absorbed?" asked Hotch.

"Quincy left these reports for me, under the flower pot just like we discussed," Spencer responded.

"So are you going to give me a clue?" asked Hotch.

"Mostly what Quincy found is good," Spencer said, "however, there're four children we're going to have to rescue from their rather worrisome situations."

"Why don't you tell me," Hotch said sitting down on the couch so Spencer recited every word of what he had read about his one niece and three nephews that he was most worried about.

"Yes, I can see why you're so concerned," Hotch said once his mate was done, "and you're right that something has to be done."

"I think Fenwick in the orphanage will be the easiest," Spencer said and Hotch nodded in agreement.

"He will be because it's just a matter of proving that you are his closest living relation and having Chance sign over custody will help you with that, although it would be better if he went with you to rescue him," Hotch said. "The other three however, are going to be more difficult."

"I'm most concerned about Rafe, considering his mother's a whore and leaves him alone for hours at a time by himself. I'm not sure what the situation was when Rafe was still a baby, but you just don't leave a young boy to his own devices without some adult supervision," Spencer said. "According to Quincy it's clear that Louise adores her young son, but she can't really take care of him properly considering her profession. I don't think it'll be easy to convince her to give him up even for a lot of money, however."

"Maybe we could get her a decent job?" Hotch suggested. "Of course, it depends on what kind of education she has. If she only has through high school we might not be able to get her job that pays enough to support herself as well as her son."

"Well, I could take him in, and we can still help Louise out and she could visit him frequently. Actually Chance should be paying child support in any case, since Rafe is his son and if anybody needs it, it's Louise so she can support Rafe properly, hire a babysitter and the like when she's working that kind of thing."

"Buy him proper clothes and food," Hotch added, "although we both know that she'll be rightfully suspicious of us and it will likely take awhile to earn her trust."

"Which I'm willing to do," Spencer said. "However, I will be talking to Chance sometime in the very near future and make sure he understands that he has a responsibility to pay child support considering he's this boy's father."

"And what will you do if Chance refuses to acknowledge that Rafe or any of the children for that matter are his?"

"Well, then I'll do what he should be doing," Spencer said determinedly, "and pay Louise a decent amount so that she can take care of herself and Rafe to."

"Now that brings us to the twins," Hotch said.

"That woman Lara doesn't care about her son or daughter at all," Spencer said shaking his head in disgust, "at least according to Quincy's report. I'd like to see for myself of course, but Quincy has no reason to lie to either of us considering we are paying him quite well."

"And you hired him because he had an outstanding reputation," Hotch added and Spencer nodded in agreement

"Yes, he does have a reputation for honesty, but also bluntness, which I don't mind at all so long as he gets the job done," Spencer said, "and so far he's living up to my expectations."

"Yes, it is the twins Cooper and Ceridwen that concern me even more than Rafe does. At least Rafe's mother cares for him, even if she can't support him properly, however, that's not true of the twins and I'm just surprised that Lara didn't get an abortion or at least drop the twins off at an orphanage once they were born."

"It will be money that makes her sign them over to us legally," Hotch said with certainty, as he had met Lara's type before and Spencer nodded having already figured that out for himself.

"Yes, at first I'd offer her around 25,000, but I'm willing to up that, but I don't want to let her know how much money I actually have, because then she would try to get more in order to give over custody of her children."

"I would start off 10,000 first," Hotch advised. "I would also send a lawyer instead of going yourself and give him the legal right to do the haggling for you. Just give him the upper limit of what you are willing to spend to get your niece and nephew put into your care legally and have the mother give up all right to them."

"Well, I would say start off with 10,000 like you suggest," Spencer mused, "and I'm willing to go up to 250,000."

Hotch whistled, "That's a lot of money."

"You know I can afford it and that's not really even a drop in the old proverbial bucket," Spencer said. "I only hope it doesn't get me in trouble with the FBI."

"So long as we do it legally than there should be no problem," Hotch promised. "The FBI is well aware that you're quite well off and I know they wonder why you want to work in one of the most dangerous jobs out there instead of doing something else, since you can do anything you want with your money."

"I'm sure they realize by now that I have such a brilliant mind that I need to keep it occupied constantly and that working at the BAU is perfect for me. Besides, a lot of people with large trust funds or fortunes are spoiled rotten brats, but my parents didn't raise me or my siblings that way and if people are curious as to why I work with the FBI when I could do anything, that's exactly what I'll tell them," Spencer said, "and it also happens to be the truth. In any case, I was thinking about Louise and Rafe in particular."

"I can see why you would be more concerned about Louise and her son then the others," Hotch said immediately.

"Well, it's just that it's clear from Quincy that Louise actually does love her son and I was just thinking that maybe she could take some classes at the local college, get a bit more education so she can get a better job. I would be willing to pay for that, so that Rafe would still have his mother. Really Louise is only 30 which is younger than I am and a lot of women are going back to get their degrees all the time nowadays so it wouldn't be the least unusual."

"We'll have to see what she wants to do first," Hotch reminded his mate gently. "She'll likely be looking for the strings attached to all this generosity being thrown her way and I wouldn't blame her in the least if she does."

"Yes, I know," Spencer agreed looking incredibly grim. "I won't be able to blame her either if she does since most people aren't so nice and generous, but I believe she'll understand that I want to do what's best for my nephew and dragging him through a long court battle just to take him away from the mother he loves would not be a good thing, although I realize that some people would still try to do that not caring that Louise loves her son or about the trauma it would put Rafe through, by trying to rip him away from the mother he adores. Now if this Louise didn't actually care for and love her son then I would do that if I had to, but it's clear she adores him, which is one of the reasons I'm willing to do this for her so that she can pay to support him."

"Yes, I agree that ripping him away the mother he loves, especially at four years old would affect him for the rest of his life," Hotch said.

"As for the twins, you're right about letting my lawyer handle that and the two of us will keep in touch through text messages and phone calls, since I'm sure I'll be working at least part of the time while those negotiations are ongoing."

"This Lara Johnson would have to be extremely stupid to try to extort even more money from you because all you would have to do would be to prove that the twins weren't being taken care of," Hotch said, "which should be easy enough, because you said that they're not being taken out of the apartment very much to get some exercise, which would be considered child abuse and also that they're dressed in nothing but rags when the mother can afford better is a point of consideration to. I doubt very much that many people like her neighbors, even know they exist, since they are so rarely outside their mother's apartment, if they are at all. I'm sure she doesn't take them to the doctor, or has gotten them their immunizations or regular checkups."

"I'm sure you're right about that," Spencer said.

"So what's your plans for the other three? Who are you going to leave then with when once they're rescued?" asked Hotch.

"Well, I thought I'd give Andrew and Ryan a chance to raise them since technically Andrew is their closest relation as he is Chance's twin brother and he and Ryan have the room at their place. Now I admit that you and I could take them in, but those three children are going to need a lot of love and support in the next few years to get over what happened to them and Andrew has a job that's conducive to doing that since he's home every night."

"That's a good plan," Hotch said approvingly. "We can go over and visit frequently and get to know those three children, even if they aren't living with us."

"Yes, we can be like favorite uncles and spoil them rotten, which they need," Spencer said, "especially after all they've been through. They need to know that someone will love them unconditionally, that they won't be abandoned at the slightest bit of trouble or if problems pop up, which are bound to happen. In a way those children kind of remind me of Harry and how he was raised by those horrible relatives of his or at least the twins do. I'm actually surprised that Garcia didn't find more than Fenwick in an orphanage."

"Yet," Hotch reminded him, "as you know she's still searching."

"Yes, the reports I got from Quincy only cover the children that Chance fathered naturally and about half of the ones from the sperm bank, however, it's only been a month or so and I think she's done a good job so far, but he still has a long way to go since it takes time to track that kind of information down. I'll be very surprised if Chance confined himself to having sex with women just in the States and if Garcia doesn't find, some children from other countries in the world like Italy or France since I know the Chance has been both places, I'll be very surprised. Unfortunately, that little family tree book I borrowed from Harry only gives the names and birthdays of the children in question as well as their parents, but it doesn't give where they are living, which is why Garcia is having to try to track them down electronically."

"I was actually referring to the fact that there might be some more of Chance's sperm preserved at one of those places," Hotch said, "and that we could get babies popping up for the next 10 years that have his DNA."

"Yes, there is that to take into consideration too," Spencer agreed. "It's just like I told Andrew just last month and that we could be getting babies with Chance's DNA for the next five years or longer. The only way we would find out how many times Chance donated his jizz would be to break into those sperm bank files and since neither one of us wanted to do that we'll just have to accept that it's possible that another 50 children could pop up in the next 10 or 15 years."

"I sincerely hope not," Hotch said with a shudder.

"Me too, but that doesn't mean it isn't a strong possibility," Spencer said. "I'm going to make Chance swear a wizard's oath to not donate his sperm to those banks anymore and also to use protection when he's having sex with women, even though I might have to promise to make him permanently impotent if he doesn't take that oath. I'd rather not have to do that, but I will, if Chance doesn't see sense. He might very well hate me for the rest of his life, but that's better then him fathering even more little Reids, especially since magical people can live up to to five hundred years. I shudder to think how many sons and daughters he can father in that amount of time."

"How are you going to keep him here and prevent him from Apparating away?" asked Hotch.

"You can't Apparate into or out of this house, as there are wards to prevent it, which I told you about when we first mated," Spencer explained with a smirk, "and I have no intention of letting Chance get out of this house to the Apparition point. I'll tie him up if necessary and unlike me and several other members of my family he's not very good at wandless magic, so it's unlikely he'll be able to get out of them until I release him. Of course, the only reason he's not very good at wandless magic is he never took the time to develop the skill like me and Andrew and Leah have. Of course, the others can do wandless magic to, but last I knew it wasn't as advanced as the three names I mentioned."

"Well, I sincerely hope that Chance sees sense then since if it was me I wouldn't want to be made permanently impotent, but then I'm responsible and I have never fathered any children, besides, the ones that are almost all grown up now, Chance on the other hand..."

"Does not care where he releases his load or about using protection just so long as it is pretty and female and she is willing," Spencer said crudely.

"Well, that's a rather crude way of putting it, love," Hotch chuckled knowing that his lover was truly annoyed with the situation when he said something so crude, since he was usually one of the politest people Hotch had ever known, though in this case he couldn't blame his mate in the least. "I know you must be extremely annoyed at this situation for you to be so crude."

"I am," Spencer admitted a little calmer. "I thought Chance knew better then this and I know our parents would be extremely disappointed in him for the way he's been acting ever since his graduation from school in Las Vegas. It's not that they wouldn't understand wanting to have a bit of fun after all the studying and taking his qualifying tests, since they certainly live up tho their reputation of being nastily exhausting for most people, however, what they wouldn't understand is Chance partying and whoring his life away, which is essentially what he is doing. The problem is that I have no idea how to stop it since Chance won't listen to me at least not without being body bound and while I hate to do that to my own brother it is likely the only way I know of to get him to listen. At the rate he is going he is going to get some disease that can't be fixed with magic, because although we can cure a lot of diseases that humans can't there are some things that we don't have cures for like AIDS, since for the most part magical folks don't get this deadly disease, well, unless they sleep with someone who has it, which has happened in the past, although rarely."

"I'm sure he would settle down if he actually found himself a regular girl and fell in love," Hotch said, "as truelove changes a lot of people, even those that have been in jail, for one reason or another, although it's usually those that have only committed minor crimes like petty thievery, or robbery that change if they fall in love, as that makes you want to be a better person and doesn't usually include the hardened criminals who murder, rape, or other serious crimes."

"Still, people can change and if someone who has committed a string of minor crimes can change, then Chance can to, but he'll have to want to," Spencer said.

"I think it's time you had a serious talk with your brother," Hotch said and Spencer nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it is and believe me, I'm not looking forward to that conversation, but at the rate he's going he's going to self-destruct not too far down the road and I'd like to stop that from happening, if possible. I might not be happy with his actions, but that doesn't mean I or the rest of his siblings don't love him, which is one of the reasons I'd like to stop him from self-destructing," Spencer said.

The two men were silent for awhile and then Hotch asked, "Is there anyway to effect dreams?"

Hotch wasn't sure if actually affecting someone's dreams was possible, however, he knew that magic could do many wondrous and strange things, so he asked just in case there was a spell for changing someone's dreams.

"There might be," Spencer said thoughtfully, "what do you have in mind?"

"Well, I was just thinking that if Chance started having dreams about what could happen to him if he continues down the road that he is on, it might make him change his attitude when nothing else will, like for instance if he saw himself come down with some sort of terrible disease, like the AIDS that you suggested or if he saw in his dreams what he refuses to acknowledge in real life about how his family is so disappointed in him for his behavior. You could even do a dream where he dies and all of the family is gathered around his grave mourning his loss, but also talking about how he brought it on himself as he refused to listen to what anybody told him about how he was being self-destructive," Hotch said.

"You are absolutely brilliant, love," Spencer said giving his mate a very passionate kiss on the lips for his brilliant idea. "That is such a great idea that I'm going to find a way to implant it without Chance finding out that it was I that put that spell on him or that it was a spell at all instead of his subconscious nagging him. I think I can even manage to do it to where the spell only releases him, only once he truly changes his ways. If this idea works, as I hope it will, I won't have to get his wizard's oath to stop donating his sperm or having sex with women without using protection. I don't want to make him miserable or unhappy I just would like for him to see the error of his ways. I'm going to let his own subconscious guide his dreams and I wouldn't be surprised if it nags him and shows him the faces of the children that he fathered either due to his donated sperm, or because he got some woman pregnant as either way he is technically their dad. I can think of 100 different scenarios his subconscious could show him, right off the top of my head and I'm sure if I thought about it I can come up with 100 more easily."

"Isn't it likely that Chance will realize that he's under a spell?" asked Hotch.

"No," Spencer promised his mate with a wide smirk.

"Why not?" Hotch asked cautiously, as his mate smirk was doing things to him that made him want to fuck his mate senseless, but he knew now was not the time. Spencer didn't smirk very often unlike him or some other people, because it just wasn't in his nature to do that or to feel pleasure in someone else's misfortune, but Hotch thought in this case that Chance had it coming and that what was going to happen to him was more then deserved.

"Because unlike me he doesn't study magic," Spencer begin to explain, "and definitely not different types of magic. There're many different types of magic in the world and not what most American wizards practice today. More spells have been lost ever since magic has existed, than are used today. Many different cultures practice their own brand of magic and they are usually incanted in their own language. However, you know I like to study different cultures, simply because I like to learn everything I can about the world around me."

"So you're saying that there's a spell from a different culture that will do what I suggested," Hotch said confidently, knowing precisely where his mate was going with his little speech.

"Yes, it comes from one of the Indian tribes, the Cherokee to be precise. A lot of Indian tribes use dream magic on their children as it teaches youngsters, the ones that are heading down a bad road exactly what could happen to them if they don't correct their paths. It kind of forces the subconscious to come up with scenarios of bad things happening to the person in question, which will get progressively worse until they actually change their paths and truly change for the better, then and only then will the dreams stop. Some people refuse to change refusing to see the road they are headed down is not a good one to be on because they are too stubborn to see that they're being very self-destructive and therefore, the dreams keep happening, until they kill themselves, but I don't believe that will happen to Chance. I truly believe that Chance just needs to see how his behavior is hurting his family, for him to change, because I don't think he's been thinking much at all really and hasn't been for the last 14 years, as his wild side has taken over instead of his sensible, logical one. He does have one it just hasn't been evident very much in the last 14 years."

"Can you remove the spell if it looks like Chance is going to commit suicide?" asked Hotch feeling worried that something permanent could happen to his mate's brother that was his and Spencer's fault instead of it being Chance's own self-destructive tendencies, which would still be tragic, but at least neither he or Spencer would feel the guilt about it, like they would if they had something to do with his death.

"Yes," Spencer said, "I can, as there is a counter spell, but I truly believe, that a few weeks or at most a few months of the dreams and he will emerge from them a better man, if looking a little rough around the edges. My brother is not stupid by any stretch of the imagination and I just think he needs a little guidance to get back on the correct path and since he won't listen to me or any of his siblings arguments, I'm going let his conscience do it for us, hopefully, without ever letting him know that a spell was placed on him at all, since he would rightfully be mad at what I did to him, although I'd rather him be mad at me for awhile or even permanently then let him continue to self-destruct. All the people that committed suicide in the past weren't just misguided like Chance is, although most were or at least to stubborn to see that they weren't just hurting themselves, but their families as well, so that when their consciences pricked at them through their dreams until they committed suicide it was because they chose it rather then faceup to their actions or the shame they had brought on their families whether that was parents, siblings, wife, children, or their community as a whole. Bringing shame to your family is a very major thing for someone of Native American descent," Spencer explained, "as much like the Japanese they believe in honor, honoring your family, honoring your wife or your children, or your tribe as a whole by your actions and not just your words or at least the older people of the tribe do, although that's not always the case with the younger generation. Unfortunately, as is the way of the world if one of Native American descent is caught committing some kind of crime or other misdeed it reflects a negative light on all Naive Americans no matter the tribe, especially if it's on an outsider, which basically means anyone who isn't another Native American."

"I say give it a try then, because it might be the only thing, that will truly make Chance change and let his more sensible side take over," Hotch said. "I know it's kind of risky at least from what you have told me, but I do believe it's the only solution, because from what I know of your brother he's too stubborn to listen to anybody's advice, even those who love him. He'll have to listen to what his own subconscious is telling him though, because I'm sure he'll think it's his conscience that is starting to prick at him to change his ways before he gets himself killed or at least contracts a deadly disease."

"That's what having nightmares is all about you know and that is forcing you to deal with something traumatic that happened or to make you feel guilty for something you did whether or not you're conscious mind is ready to deal with it," Spencer said, "and these dreams will be more like nightmares then the regular dreams you get when you are sleeping, as they will force Chance to face up to the way he's been behaving for the last 14 years."

"Every sentient species needs to dream, as it has been proven that dreams are essential to getting a restful night's sleep and also maintaining sanity. REM sleep is essential to a person's creativity and the more vivid somebody's dreams on the more creative they are. Some of our greatest scientist or writers or anything that requires creativity likely had or has very vivid dreams. Also REM deprivation has been linked to having a harmful effects on a person's psyche like anxiety, irritability, hallucinations and being dreamed deprived has even been known to affect a person's appetite, but only if they don't dream for a long time and not just a few days. Even nightmares have their place," Spencer added.

"I'm sure some people can ignore their nightmares and what they're telling that person and continue to be some of our most violent, deranged criminals," Hotch suggested.

"Yes, they can and have accepted those nightmares as a matter of course, and refuse to change their path and some of those criminals that we've put in jail over the years probably don't have nightmares at all about what they did and I'm not talking about the true psychopaths we have caught over the years, the ones that experience no emotion at all, no love, no happiness, no guilt, no nothing, because they're incapable of it, but the ones that do have emotions and a conscience."

"So how are you going to cast that spell on Chance without him knowing?" asked Hotch.

"Well, at the moment he's in Italy partying his life away," Spencer said with a grimace, shaking his head, as he thought about his black sheep of a brother. "I think that it won't be too hard to locate him, as there is a spell I can use, although I need to actually be within the country, preferably in the same city he is in order for it to be effective. If I have my way I'll find him at some party where it is so crowded he'll never notice me and cast that spell on him and then disappear without him ever knowing I was there. I'll just have to see what the situation is when I get there and I know I might be gone for a few days I think I'll take leave, just in case this takes longer than I think it will. The beauty of this spell is that Chance's dreams will start out relatively harmless they'll still be nightmares, but not all that frightening. Over time, anywhere from a couple weeks to a month they will slowly build up in intensity, until they are truly terrifying and it won't be long after that that Chance is waking up in a sweat every night and will likely be unable to go back to sleep for hours if at all. This spell has different effects on different people depending on their personalities and other factors."

"Well, we both have plenty of time coming," Hotch said

"I don't expect you to take leave to," Spencer told him already knowing where this was going.

"We haven't had a vacation in at least three years," Hotch said, "and this is a good excuse to take one and Cruz won't mind as he's been urging me for the last year to take you somewhere for a few days, as he said we can't work all time and that although he appreciates our dedication to our jobs, we do need to take time off sometimes to decompress and just relax. He didn't say so but I got the impression that he thought that our marriage would be on the rocks if we didn't take time for just the two of us, which we can't do if we are working, so much."

"Cruz really doesn't know us at all if he believes that," Spencer said with a snort. "I'm not saying I wouldn't appreciate time with just you and me where we didn't have to worry about going into work the next day, just that Cruz knows nothing about Shifters and the True Mate Bond."

"Well, Cruz knows that you're not a Shifter and that might have something to do with why he's worried that our relationship is going to breakup or at least start to have problems, because of all the pressure at work and he's likely concerned that if our relationship goes down the drain that will affect how the team operates, which it would, not that you and me are ever going to get to the stage where our relationship is on the rocks. However, Cruz doesn't know that."

"Alright then, we could take a few days for just the two of us, if that's really what you want to do," Spencer said. "I've never been to Italy and it will be good to see some of the sites. I certainly won't turn down the opportunity for it to be just you and me for a few days, kind of like another honeymoon. I will admit that Cruz is right in one respect and that's we are both workaholics. I know that Cruz doesn't realize this, but just being able to be near you while we are working and sleeping in the same bed every night is heaven, even if all we do is cuddle together before we drift off to sleep. Never being separated for days at a time again like we were for the first 11 nearly 12 years after we found each other, is as perfect as it can get as far as I'm concerned and it's not that I don't love the sex, because you know I do, but as has already been stated on several occasions it is not our whole relationship."

"If he did realize that I doubt very much that he'd be so concerned about our relationship breaking up," Hotch said with a smirk, as he was very pleased with his mate's words. "In any case, I thought we could take at least a week and that'll give you the time to locate Chance and do what is necessary and then we can tour some of the sites in the time that remains."

"Hopefully, putting that spell on Chance won't take more than a few hours, a day at most," Spencer said, "He should be easy to locate once we are within the country thanks to that spell I mentioned. So when do you want to take a week or two off?"

"As soon as possible," Hotch said, "as this is a very serious situation. I'm assuming we'll go to Italy using the Floo network so I don't plan on mentioning that we're going out of the country for our vacation."

"Well, we could fly but it would take longer and that we would also end up with jet lag, while the Floo is much faster and cheaper," Spencer pointed out. "While you're arranging for us to take leave time, why don't you give me the name of a good lawyer, so he can start negotiations with Lara Johnson? I would like to get Cooper and Ceridwen out of that situation as soon as possible."

"I know just the man for the job," Hotch said and gave his mate a name of a good lawyer he knew. Hotch certainly understood his mate's sense of urgency where his twin niece and nephew were concerned, because just from what Quincy had found watching them intermittently wasn't good.

"I'm going to contact him first thing tomorrow and see if he's interested in taking the case," Spencer said, "since it's too late to do anything about it tonight."

"Oh, he will be as he was a victim of child abuse himself, just like the twins are, which is why I suggested him," Hotch said. "He hates child abusers and thanks to that report Quincy gave you, which you recited back to me the twins definitely fall under the category of neglect at the very least, since you can't keep a pair of pups locked up in your apartment all the time, even with adult supervision. Pups need activity, they need to be able to run and play, as being locked up all the time as young as they are would be very detrimental to not only their bodies, but also their minds. I won't be surprised to learn that the twins are months or even a year behind other pups their age, when it comes to walking, talking and other essential motor skills, because by three years old they should be able to feed themselves, be potty trained and have other skills that go along with pups that age."

"Yes, I know," Spencer agreed remembering when his own children had been young.

"We need to get some sleep," Hotch suggested gently and Spencer nodded feeling suddenly mentally and physically exhausted.

"Alright, I'll see you in the morning," Spencer said. "Good night."

"Good night, I love you," Hotch told Spencer who had already laid down and closed his eyes.

"I love you too, Aaron," Spencer said softly before he drifted off to sleep not hearing Hotch reply.

Hotch just looked down at his mate who was already deeply asleep with a tender look on his face, before he to lay down and closed his eyes, curling up as close as he could get to Spencer's body, drifting off to sleep a moment later.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	22. Chapter 22

Vance Walden took a deep breath and knocked on Lara Johnson's apartment door. His old friend Aaron Hotchner and his mate had brought him a rather interesting case that he could not refuse, when he learned about the niece and nephew of Spencer Reid and how they were at least being neglected by their mother. Vance had heard the whole story from his old associate and friend and his mate and by the time they were done reciting exactly what they knew of this woman Vance had been as mad as they were, because he hated child abusers. Spencer who was the one that had employed him had told him all about his brother Chance who was one of those people that seemed intent to party his life away and also having sex with as many women as possible and not using protection. Spencer had also told him how he had discovered 20 children that his brother was technically the father of even if half of those were twins that was still a lot. It was useless to try to get Chance to accept responsibility Spencer had told him, as he won't listen to me and he won't listen to his twin brother Andrew or any of the rest of his siblings. We've tried talking to him on multiple occasions, but he refuses to listen and now we barely see him. His client had told him exactly how he had discovered that his brother was technically the father of 20 children, not including the ones where he had donated his sperm to a sperm bank. His client had had a background check done on all his nieces and nephews mothers and their spouses if they had them and most of them had passed, so Spencer had no intention of interfering in their lives. This particular woman through was the one that his client was most concerned about, which was why he was here today as he had been authorized to offer this woman up to $250,000, although his client had told him he would prefer that he did not offer this woman more than was absolutely necessary, since she certainly didn't deserve it, but that he was willing to do it to get his twin niece and nephews out of her care and Vance had to agree and even though it was within the law, it would still be considered blackmail in certain circles if it was ever discovered. Vance had all the legal documents in his briefcase for signing over the children to Spencer's brother Andrew and his mate Ryan Matthews and he was hoping that this wouldn't take any serious negotiations and that this Lara Johnson would be willing to accept what she was offered without any haggling, although he know there was very little chance of that happening, since she was likely the greedy type.

The door finally opened and a beautiful woman stood there and Vance could already tell she was very vain just from studying her for a few seconds.

"Can I help you?" The woman demanded

"Yes, ma'am, my name is Vance Walden and I'm an attorney for Dr. Spencer Reid," Vance began.

"I don't know any Spencer Reid," Lara began prepared to close the door in Vance's face

"No, ma'am, but you do know his brother Chance Reid and he sent me here to negotiate for the release of your twin children into his care, because he knows that his brother fathered them."

Lara stared at Vance for moment shocked and the man continued. "Shall we continue this inside, so that we don't let the neighbors know your private business?"

"Yes," Lara said slowly, "come in."

Vance entered the apartment and saw the children immediately as they were enclosed in a playpen that was set up in one corner.

Vance was surprised that neither twin was crying to be released since they should be able to walk by their age and playpens weren't used after a child learned how to toddle around on their own.

"So Mr. Walden, tell me exactly how this Spencer Reid learned about Cooper and Ceridwen?" asked Lara.

"My client has many connections ma'am," Vance said insulted that he hadn't even been offered coffee or tea at least, as that would have been common courtesy.

"And why has your client not come to my door inquiring about my children before now?" asked Lara.

"My client didn't know about them until very recently," Vance explained. "He knew his brother had a tendency to have sex with as many women as possible, but he thought until recently that Chance was using protection. When he discovered and that this was not the case he had a friend of his begin tracing his brother's movements over the last few years and to his shock he discovered, that he had fathered several children and yet wasn't paying child support for them and in fact likely didn't even know they existed. Unlike his brother my client takes his responsibility to his family very seriously and when he learned you didn't take care of your children properly at all and in fact you neglected them a great deal he was determined to get them out of their situation."

"I care about my children," Lara protested.

"Ma'am my client has been having you investigated for the last four months," Vance lied smoothly. The truth was that while his client had indeed been investigating Lara Johnson and several others it had only been for about six weeks not the four months that he had suggested, but Lara Johnson didn't need to know that. "What the private investigator that he hired found disturbed him deeply as according to him you never allow your children to go outside or take them to the park or other outings. I can see from here that they are dressed in rags. At their age they should be potty trained and able to walk and run. Young children need stimulation in order to grow and instead you have them encased in a playpen that is made for children who cannot yet walk, which means a child that is less than two years old. You don't even have any toys in there with them and that Ms. Johnson is considered at least neglect. I can also tell you from where I'm sitting that they are malnourished as their ribs are visible again their skin. My client is willing to not take you to court for the abuse if you sign them over to him."

"How do I know that this Spencer Reid is related?" asked Lara not expecting Walden to be prepared with a response. "Reid is a very common surname, after all."

Vance opened his briefcase and took out some papers handing them over to the woman sitting across from him.

Lara looked them over and realized this attorney had indeed been prepared for just such a question, for the papers showed a copy of the twins birth certificates where their father's name was circled in red marker and there was also a picture pinned with a paperclip to the top of the photo copy of the birth certificates. The picture was of eight children, along with two adults in the background Lara easily recognized Chance as a young man of about 11 or 12 and another boy the same age that looked exactly like him except for the eyes, which had to be the twin brother that Chance had mentioned once. Lara looked at the back and all the peoples names were written in two rows and were listed in order. Vance's client's name was written on the second row along with whom Lara assumed were Chance's and his siblings parents. Lara had to admit that Chance looked too much like his older brother for the relationship to be denied, as they had the same brown hair, and general features, although their eyes were different color not that that really meant anything.

"My client is willing to take a blood test to prove the legitimacy of his claim," Vance continued after a few minutes of silence. "He is prepared to offer you $10,000 for you to turn over all legal right to Chance's twin brother Andrew."

"Why did he hire you if these children are going to be raised by this Andrew?" asked Lara snidely.

"Because he is the oldest and therefore, the most responsible," Vance told her calmly. "Technically, he is head of the family since both of his parents passed away some years ago. In any case, his brother Andrew agreed to let my client handle this, but is willing to raise his twin brothers children as if they were his own. My client told me to inform you that if you do not agree to his terms he's going to take you to court and he has many political and other useful connections. He also told me to tell you that he is an FBI agent and works with the Behavior Analyst Unit so he knows the law like the back of his hand and he has no doubt that he can win custody, but doesn't want drag his niece and nephew though a traumatic court battle if he doesn't have to. If you decide to be stubborn about this, he has evidence that could very well put you in prison for child endangerment, child neglect, child abuse and multiple other charges."

Lara gulped at that having no doubt that this Spencer Reid would go through with this threat, especially since he worked for the FBI who took a dim view of child abusers, so she could very well find her ass in prison for many years just for the first three charges alone. Why hadn't she just dropped her two off at an orphanage once they were born? Or have an abortion to begin with?

"200,000," Lara said knowing and she was pushing her luck.

"20,000," Vance countered calmly.

"180,000," Laura said.

"45,000," Vance countered.

"150,000," Laura said.

"75,000," Vance countered calmly cutting the amount Lara had suggested in half.

"100,000, along with the sworn affidavit that your client will not press charges now or in the future."

"Done," Vance said immediately, knowing it was more than his client had wanted to pay, but immediately sensing that Lara would not go any lower.

Lara well knew that the attorney's client must be rich along with being an FBI agent because a hundred thousand dollars was nothing to sneeze at and there was no way that this Spencer Reid had made that much even if he had be an agent 20 years. However, she knew better than to push her luck as she had no doubt that Vance's client would press charges if forced and that they would probably stick.

Vance took the already prepared paperwork out of his briefcase as his client hadn't wanted to give this woman a chance to change her mind and either demand more money or to do something stupid like getting rid of the children.

Lara picked up the thick stack of paperwork and read through it, slowly.

"Well, you certainly came prepared," Lara said sarcastically.

Vance didn't reply just sat there calmly. Finally he said, "Today the only paperwork I brought with me is a legal document that once you sign says that you willingly released the twins Cooper and Ceridwen Johnson over to their uncle, Andrew Reid. There is also a document that says if you fail to go through with your end of the bargain my client will take you to court and if anything happens to the children in the meantime he will also take you to court and have you up on murder charges. The money we discussed will be sent to you by electronic transfer and my client expects the children to immediately be turned over to his brother. The electronic transfer of the hundred thousand dollars will be completed within 24 hour and after that you have another 12 hours to bring the children to the designated drop off point, where my client's brother will be there to collect them. Andrew has been instructed to contact his brother immediately, once the transfer is complete and the children are in his custody. I will also be there with the rest of the paperwork that you will need to sign."

"Alright," Laura said in a defeated tone of voice.

"Ma'am this goes strictly against my instructions, but I will say that if you had treated your children like they should have been treated in the first place my client never would have gotten involved in your life. His brother Chance has quite a few children around the city and elsewhere, but they're being loved and cared for so he's not going to interfere in their upbringing. You could have saved yourself a lot of grief, if you had only treated them with love and understanding instead of disdain and loathing. My client takes a very dim view of child abusers whether the children are related to him or not, but in this case he was positively seething when he read the report that the private investigator sent to him. My client is not the kind of man that gets angry easily as he's usually calm and intelligent, which is understandable considering that he works for the BAU. You are very lucky that he didn't want to drag his niece and nephew through a long traumatic court battle or I wouldn't be sitting here calmly I would be handing you a summons to appear in court. I advised my client that he should just call in social services and have the children taken from your custody since the signs of abuse are clear even to me and it couldn't help but be clear to them as well. However, if he had done it that way, they would've ended up in a foster home temporarily and since those places can be just as bad he didn't want that to happen, since it would be months before he was granted custody."

"And bribery is any better?" asked Lara sarcastically.

"Madam, it is not considered bribery," Vance said with great dignity, insulted. "It is considered compensation. It is within the law or I never would have agreed to it and my client is the epitome of a law abiding citizen and he would never have agreed to it either. I'll show myself out."

Vance rose from his seat and picked up his briefcase before heading to the front door sorry to leave the two children behind, with that horrible woman, but he knew he really had no choice and the children would be out of that horrible home within just 36 hours if things went well.

Lara watched him go and wondered how her life had turned to shit, refusing to admit that it was her fault, because if she had just treated the twins she had conceived with Chance well she never would have received a visit from Chance's brother's lawyer. She had never wanted children, Lara admitted, but she had never believed that she would get pregnant, just from the first time she'd had sex with Chance Reid, but apparently he was a very vital man, as she had found out she was pregnant not more than two months later after that night. Why she had decided to keep or even give birth to her twins she had no clue now. She could have had an abortion up until she was about five months along but she hadn't. She could also have given them to an orphanage, once they were born and yet she hadn't done that either and she had no clue as to why.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Six months later

"Can I talk to you?" Chance asked his brother.

"Of course," Spencer said studying his brother. Chance looked absolutely horrible with dark bags under his eyes, his posture was slumped as if he was depressed and dejected, and he also looked as if he had a lost considerable amount of weight as if he wasn't eating.

"I hate to say this, but you look horrible," Spencer said, more sympathetic then he normally would be, because he knew it was the spell he had cast on his brother that had caused Chance to look like he hadn't had a decent night's sleep in a year, even if it had only been half that.

Spencer felt his stomach squirm guiltily, even if he knew logically it had been necessary.

He and Hotch had indeed gone to Italy by Floo and it hadn't taken him very long at all to locate his brother thanks to that spell and within a few hours he and Hotch were able to just forget about Chance and enjoy themselves. Spencer knew he had been extremely lucky that he had found Chance at a bar and he had been so drunk that he had never noticed his brother was there.

One drink later and a little wandless magic and the spell had been cast on Chance without him ever noticing or anybody else for that matter. He had left immediately after he had paid for his drink and rejoined his mate who was waiting for him at a small café, which wasn't far from the bar where Chance was.

It had been mutually decided that neither one of them would stick around in the same city that Chance was just in case they accidentally ran into each other and so the two of them had left Florence and headed for Venice to start their mini honeymoon.

Spencer felt guilty because he and Aaron had enjoyed themselves in one of the most romantic cities in the world, while his brother had apparently been suffering from the spell that had been placed on him. Spencer knew it probably wasn't ethical what he had done, however, he knew with certainty that it had been necessary, because otherwise he was going to be forced to make his brother impotent and he really didn't want to have to do that, because a lot of men didn't feel like one at all if their cock didn't respond when they looked at a gorgeous woman or had sex with one. A lot of men had to prove how viral they were, which of course, meant having sex whether that was with your girlfriend, your fiancé, your wife or your same-sex partner, but if they were unable to get their cock to respond, that destroyed a lot of men and Spencer knew that his brother would be one of them, since Chance was a very sexual man and his whole identity was wrapped up in his ability to have sex with any women he wanted to.

"Thank you, big brother," Chance said sarcastically slumping down on one of the couches in the den where Spencer had been sitting reading novel for once, which was a pretty rare event.

"So what's the trouble?" Spencer with a raised eyebrow, his tone calm. "Having trouble sleeping? They're are potions for that, you know."

"I've tried that and nothing seems to work," Chance said dejected. "Oh, they worked for a week or two, but then they just stopped."

"So insomnia?" asked Spencer.

"It's not really insomnia," Chance admitted. "I fall asleep fine, but within and hour I'm having the most terrible nightmares and have been for the last six months. These nightmares started out pretty mild, but have progressively worsened. I wake up in the middle of the night after a really bad one and I don't stop shaking for at least an hour and I definitely can't go back to sleep after that. I'm lucky if I get three or four hours of decent sleep a night anymore."

"Maybe you should try to get to the root of the nightmares," Spencer suggested calmly while inside he was cheering. "What are the nightmares about?"

Chance told him and Spencer listened intently and when he was done an hour later Spencer said gently, "Chance, I hate to tell you this, but maybe your conscience has finally awakened for the way you live your life. You're partying and whoring your life away and whenever I or one of your other brothers and sisters have tried to talk to you about it you didn't listen as you were determined to continue partying and having sex with as many women as you could. I think you're finally getting to that stage in your life where your conscience is waking up and telling you that you need to change or the nightmares you've been having might never go away."

"So you're saying I need to change the way I live my life if I want these nightmares to go away," Chance said and Spencer nodded.

"I'm only guessing here, but it seems logical and it's like I told you months ago when I forced you to sign that document that gave Andrew the legal right to adopt your twin children that you had with that woman Lara Johnson. Of course, we had to get the mother's permission to, but a little money made her see things my way," Spencer said briefly smirking before turning serious again.

Chance looked ashamed of himself for a moment and he suddenly realized that his brother was exactly right and he had been partying and whoring his life away ever since he had been 18. He had just been so happy to be done with school and exams that he had let his wild side takeover and it had been in control ever since, well, at least until he had started having those horrible nightmares. He had never taken responsibility for all the children he had created either by getting a woman pregnant or because some woman had used his sperm that he had donated to various sperm banks in various cities multiple times. According to his brother there were quite a few children that had his DNA, but at that time he hadn't wanted to hear it. Now though he felt ashamed of himself for getting 10 different women pregnant and creating a total of 20 children including the twins that his brother had just mentioned a moment ago. Most of the time he never even thought about using a condom because he assumed that the woman he was having sex with was on the pill, but now he saw how shortsighted that was. His brother had tried to tell him, but he hadn't wanted to listen at the time and now he was actually surprised that there weren't more then 20 children that he had fathered naturally because he'd had sex with several hundred women over the years. Chance knew that there were quite a few more children with his DNA because women had used the sperm that he had donated to the different sperm banks in every city that he had visited over the last 15 years to have children, well actually it was closer to 11, as he hadn't done that in quite awhile and he hadn't started until he was 19, but still...

"I'm not sure if I can change," Chance admitted reluctantly after being lost in thoughts for quite awhile.

"Of course, you can," Spencer told his brother firmly. "You just need to have faith in yourself. That you are now admitting you have a problem is a big step in the right direction, now all you have to do is think about every action before you take it. There's nothing wrong with having sex with different women for example, but you should always use protection, even if she tells you she's on the pill just to be on the safe side and Chance you are very lucky you know that?"

"In what way?" asked Chance confused.

Spencer sighed and rolled his eyes and looked towards the ceiling as if asking the gods for patience. "You're lucky because you didn't come down, at least as far as I know, with any transmittable diseases. There are certain things that muggles can get that mostly magical people don't get if only because they stick with their own kind for the most part. If you had gotten AIDS for example, which is a very painful disease and there is no magical cure for it, which means that you would be stuck and if it goes untreated your life span would be considerably shorter. That particular disease can be transferred by bodily fluids, so when you kissed a woman or had sex with one that has it you would end up getting it because of those fluids."

"So just kissing a woman and getting her salvia in my mouth would give me this AIDS," Chance said pronouncing the unfamiliar word slowly.

"Yes," Spencer said. "There is no cure for it, although it is treatable, but only in aspect that it is controllable with prescription muggle medications and so long as it's under control your lifespan is lengthened, although you'll never live your full time, which is especially true for people like you and me who can live for centuries."

"So we can get this AIDS?" Chance asked and Spencer nodded.

"Unfortunately, we can," Spencer replied honestly, but also bluntly as sugarcoating things wouldn't help his brother understand how much he had put his life at risk over the last 15 years, "and that's only one disease out of many and although a few of them are curable, many are not. You put yourself at risk every time you had sex with a strange woman, because you never know who has it and who doesn't. Many people require that they get a thorough medical checkups, to make sure they are clean before they'll agree to have sex with each other. Also people who donate blood are checked for HIV, that's AIDS, before it is administered to a patient that needs it, as it can be transmitted through a transfusion, because the disease lies in the blood as well as in other bodily fluids. There's also a good chance of passing it from mother to baby although as long as you're taking your medication and a woman doesn't breast feed after the baby's born, but uses store bought formula and she has a c-section, instead of a natural delivery it's possible that the will child be born without the virus. Still the disease is transmitted through various ways like having sex just as I told you a minute ago because you pass bodily fluids back-and-forth."

Chance winced and wondered how he had gotten so lucky, as to not get this apparently painful and deadly disease.

"You can change your life," Spencer told his brother more gently, but still firmly. "Me and the rest of your family hated to see how you were slowly destroying yourself with your behavior. We hated to see how you were drinking so heavily every night and you're lucky you didn't get alcohol poisoning or destroy your liver, you know that? We hated to see how you were wasting your potential. I mean Chance your grades from school 15 years ago now were excellent, which means you're not stupid."

Spencer tapped his brother with a finger on the forehead to make the point he was trying to make clear. "I would like to see you settle down with one woman, have a real family instead of all these children that you've fathered, but didn't take responsibility for. Those children that have your DNA are technically your sons and daughters and my nieces and nephews. Luckily, for you most of them are perfectly happy with their families and those that were created using your sperm, aren't your responsibility, although I hope you realize the possibility of incest has increased, because you donated so much of your sperm."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Chance confused.

Spencer rolled his eyes again and then told his brother in an exasperated tone, "Think! For a change! Use that brain I know you have!"

Chance thought about what his brother had told him and then he came to the only possible conclusion. "Those children that were created using my sperm, know nothing about each other, which is what you meant about the possibility of incest being increased. It's possible that some of them could meet, fall in love and have children never knowing that they are related to each other. It's possible that my children may look so different from each other they'd never know they were dating or having sex with their half brother or sister."

"Exactly," Spencer told Chance calmly, but with a small smile. "I see you haven't destroyed the brains you have by all your partying, whoring and drinking over the last 15 years. For awhile I thought that you had destroyed all your brain cells, by the way you've been consuming alcohol over the last decade and a half. You are actually lucky, that you didn't destroy your liver with how you've been consuming so much alcohol because that is possible you know as a lot of people that have been chronic drinkers have found out that they're going to die within months because they destroyed their liver by drinking so much and I'm not talking about having an occasional beer or glass of wine, or even drinking with your buddies for hours one night, but decades of doing the same thing, every night."

"So how many children are out there that are related to me?" asked Chance.

"Fathered naturally or because you donated so much of your jizz to a sperm bank?" asked Spencer dryly.

"I already know how many I fathered naturally, because you told me when you got me to sign the twins Cooper and Ceridwen I got that woman Lara Johnson pregnant with over to my brother," Chance told his brother who nodded

"I did, but I wasn't sure if you remembered or not because you were as angry as a hornet," Spencer said remembering that confrontation all to well, which wasn't surprising considering his eidetic memory and it had only been a few months ago as well, so even someone with a normal memory wouldn't be able to forget about the shouting match that had occurred just months ago.

"I was also as drunk as could be," Chance said, "which had a lot to do with my temper."

"Well, there is that," Spencer agreed with a snicker.

Spencer didn't mention about how his brother had tried to punch his lights out, but how he had been prepared for just such an action and managed to avoid his brother's fist. He doubted very much that Chance remembered doing that since being so drunk affected your memory of events.

"As to how many children you have because you donated your jizz to a sperm bank at last count there was 45," Spencer informed his brother.

Chance blinked at his brother in disbelief and then blinked again as if trying to absorb what he had been told. "45? You're not pulling my leg, are you? 45?"

"No, I'm not," Spencer told his brother calmly. "Apparently you donated a lot of your sperm to those banks and there's no telling how many children with your DNA will pop up over the course of the next 10 years, because I have no way of knowing how much more of your sperm there is at every single bank you donated to on multiple occasions. There could be none, or we might see a dramatic increase of children related to both of us over the next 10 or 15 years. I'm having a friend of mine keep an eye on the situation and she'll tell me the minute another child pops up with your DNA."

Spencer didn't bother to mention the family tree book that Harry had loaned to him, because he didn't think his brother needed to know about it.

"You know the problem is really is that they are now multiple magical children that are related to both of us being raised by families that have no magic at all. Now while magical children are born into muggle families all the time, there's usually not, but 15 or so children a year with a totally muggle background. I have no problem with them being raised with those who know nothing about magic, however, there is no guarantee that all of the women that decided to use your jizz to have a baby will accept that their child has a rather unusual talent. Some people consider having magic to be a sign that you are possessed by a demon or something similar. Hopefully, they will all accept that their child is just special and unique and agree to send them to a magical school when the time comes. Some of those children are already 11 and I know that they were sent to a magical school since I've been keeping a close eye on that situation ever since I learned of it, but there are no guarantees that the rest of the women who decided to use your sperm to have a child will be of the same mind, as those mothers of older children are."

"I've really made a mess of things, haven't I?" Chance said slumping down until his posture was totally dejected.

"You have, but it is correctible," Spencer told his brother gently. "You just lost your way for awhile that's all."

"Creating 65 children in less than 15 years, is more than losing my way," Chance told his brother his tone totally dejected.

"Well, technically, 45 of those you didn't father, at least not naturally," Spencer said. "Your sperm was used that's true, but they are not really your responsibility, since you didn't actually have sex without protection with the woman in question. Any woman who chooses to use a sperm bank in order to have an embryo or embryos implanted really wants a child of their own, because it's an expensive process and nobody does it unless they desperately want to have a child or two. The other 20 I mentioned, even if half of those are twins were your responsibility to make sure they didn't get conceived and if you had used protection it wouldn't have happened. Since they were conceived though, you should have at least had been paying child support for all of them."

Chance slumped and nodded in agreement for his brother was absolutely right.

"Chance," Spencer said after a long minute of silence. "I want your promise that you'll use protection from now on when you're having sex with a woman, because it doesn't take more than one ejaculation into a woman's body to create a baby."

"I promise," Chance agreed immediately.

"Good, and I expect you to keep your word, because if there is a next time I will be asking for your wizard's oath and you wouldn't dare break it then as it would cost you your magic," Spencer told him bluntly.

Chance gulped and stared at his brother whom he saw was absolutely serious so he nodded. He couldn't really blame his oldest brother for making him promise or threatening to make it a wizard's oath if there was a next time.

"What if I got another woman pregnant, like within the last six months?" Chance asked.

"Then I will not make you take a wizard's oath because it happened before I extracted that promise from you," Spencer told his brother immediately. "Also I want you to promise that you will not donate anymore of your sperm to one of those banks and the same stipulations apply that I will not make you give a wizard's oath this time, but next time I will."

"I swear," Chance said and Spencer nodded.

"I accept your oath for now without the need for you to give me a magical one. However, if I find out you have broken your word on either promise you gave me them you and I will be having words. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes," Chance said softly knowing that he was not going to break his word to his brother who he loved and didn't want to have anymore disappointed in him then he already was.

"Good," Spencer told his brother. "I will help you get your life straightened out if that's what you want, as I do happen to love you, you know and I will never stop just because you made some poor decisions."

Chance looked up from where he was staring at his feet and saw that his brother's golden brown eyes were bright, with sympathy and understanding, which made him want to tear up because this meant that his brother still loved him.

"Of course, I still love you, you idiot," Spencer told him suddenly his tone affectionate. "My love isn't conditional on how you behave and neither is your siblings. We're not going to stop loving you just because you've been an idiot for the last decade and a half. We can be disappointed in your actions, but that doesn't mean we aren't willing to help you out when you need it with no strings attached when you're ready to admit that you've made mistakes and want to get your life back on track."

"Are you reading my mind?" asked Chance truly startled that his brother had voiced what he had been thinking just a few seconds ago.

"Of course, I'm not, you idiot," Spencer told his brother rolling his eyes, his tone affectionate. "I am a profiler, which means I'm able to interpret body language and other signals that the body gives off unconsciously. Besides, you're not very good at concealing your emotions and what you were thinking was written across your face as plain as day."

"All right then," Chance said relieved that his brother wasn't actually reading his mind.

"So what are your plans for getting your life back on track?" asked Spencer now.

"I don't really know," Chance admitted.

"Well, that's something you need to think seriously about," Spencer told his brother who nodded

"You can find yourself a good woman for instance, get married, have a few legitimate children," Spencer said. "I mean you're the only one that hasn't settled down with someone they love and I'm not just talking about fucking every women that crosses your path that you convince to have sex with you, but someone that you'll truly love so much that you won't mind marrying her and settling down for life. Someone that you won't cheat on and be loyal to her and your marriage, because there is no faster way to ruin a good thing then if you cheat on someone you claim to love and if you ever do end up getting married I don't want you to make the same mistakes so many men do."

"I don't believe I'll ever find a woman that I love enough to actually marry legitimately," Chance said.

"You will if you let yourself truly fall in love," Spencer told his brother. "I once thought the same way you do that I would never truly fall in love, get married, have children and look at me now. The day I met Aaron was the day my life truly began, as before that I was just kind of in a holding pattern, even though I didn't realize it at the time. Thanks to Aaron and I meeting I've been so happy for the last couple of decades with him and I wouldn't change a thing about our life so far together."

Hotch who was watching the two brothers from the doorway neither realizing that he was there at all, since they were so involved in their conversation smiled at his mate's words glad to know that Spencer had been just as happy as he had been for the last few decades since their initial meeting and mating.

"Sure we've had arguments, every couple does, no matter how close they may be, but we always make up afterwards and we're closer than ever after that," Spencer continued not realizing that Aaron was anywhere close by.

"What you and Uncle Aaron have argued?" Chance teased his brother, "and here I thought your relationship was so perfect that you never did that."

Spencer rolled his eye at his brother and snorted. "Come on, Chance, you can't really believe that crap you're spewing. Aaron and I love each other, there is no doubt about that at all, but even as much as we do care for each other we still have our arguments just like any other couple, because for one thing we both have stubborn streaks a mile wide and are bound to lock horns occasionally. It doesn't happen very often I'll admit, especially in recent years. We keep our arguments private, but yes, we do argue sometimes."

"I bet the make up sex is spectacular," Chance suggested slyly

Spencer raised his hand and hit his brother on the side of his head and glared at him. "You will not make any insinuations about Aaron's and my relationship, understand me, brother?"

Chance rubbed the side of his head as his brother hadn't exactly hit him very gently, although he knew he had deserved it for his rather inappropriate comment.

"Yes, I'm sorry, Spence," Chance said

"You're forgiven," Spencer told his brother with a smile. "However, what Aaron and I do in the privacy of our own home is no one's business, not even yours, understand me? If I ever find out you have been spreading rumors about my relationship with Aaron you will feel my wrath, which you know from personal experience will not be pleasant. I promise you that you will regret ever talking about my relationship with Aaron in such a derogatory fashion, because for one thing we are trying to keep our relationship low-key and if you start spreading rumors, pretty soon they'll be blown all out of proportion until Aaron and I have sex orgies for a hundred every night. Besides, you know a lot of people are still against same-sex relationships, and I don't want those rumors to cause either Aaron or I trouble at work. It won't matter that Aaron is a Shifter and I'm his True Mate, a lot of people would still try to cause trouble for us, especially since we work for the government."

"But people know about your relationship already," Chance protested.

"There's a difference between knowing something hypothetically and having it confirmed," Spencer told Chance cryptically.

When Chance looked confused Spencer sighed exasperatedly, rolled his eyes again and explained, "Yes, a lot of people are aware of Aaron's and my relationship, however, just because people think they know something that doesn't mean that it has been confirmed in their own minds. Mostly it's just people at work and in our own neighborhood that are aware we are in a serious relationship and also know that we work for the FBI. Now other people know about our relationship to, although we keep it low-key we don't hide it. However, they are not aware of what our professions are for the most part and we are never very blatant about our relationship out in public, since it is nobodies business and also because we are both very private people. We know what we feel for each other, so in other words, neither of us sees any reason to put our relationship on display for other people, other than a kiss on the cheek or holding hands while in public. I know you're not aware of this, but some people...well, let's just say that there was a great outcry from certain people when they found out that we had children, even though we told them that we had done it though IVF. Some people don't believe that a gay couple should have children, whether through IVF or because they're adopted and certainly not make their relationship public. Now within the Shifter community it was accepted that we were together and had children, but Normals and even some magical people...well, a lot of them believe that if you like your own sex then you certainly shouldn't be blatant about it and keep it to yourself. Having children ruins the illusion that you're not in a relationship with another man or another woman as the case may be."

Spencer's mouth twisted into a pained grimace and it looked as if he was sucking a lemon.

"That's not fair," Chance protested.

"The world, is not a very fair place, Chance," Spencer told his brother sternly, "and you know this. People are going to voice their opinion about every subject imaginable whether or not you're interested in hearing it. Not only the fact that it was two gay men that were having children, even if it was through IVF, was discussed a lot until fairly recently, so was the fact that we decided to have so many of them. People actually got into our faces on a few occasions and told us that we should not have had so many children, even if it was through IVF. It didn't matter that it was our business and that we had the money to raise them, a lot of folks believe that two people of the same-sex should not have children at all unless they are from a previous relationship or they were some relation to one of us and that we definitely shouldn't have had 22. Now however, that half of them have graduated and have their own lives while the others are still in school, well, things have died down, because people's memories are short for the most part and since the children aren't here most of the time anymore except for visits or in the summer for those still in school people have mostly dropped the subject. The saying out of sight, out of mind is appropriate in this case. You need to decide what you want to do with the rest of your life, whether that's getting married and having a few legitimate children, or staying single, but finding something you love to do so that you're happy with your life and with yourself. "

"Can I have some time to think about it?" Chance asked and Spencer nodded.

"Of course, but try to stay out of trouble while you're trying to decide what you want to do with the rest of your life, since you're still quite young even for a Shifter or a muggle for that matter," Spencer said. "You still have most of your life right in front of you, since witches and wizards can live up to 500 years, although I will admit it's usually around 300. When you do decide what you want to do, and you need help getting it done all you have to do is come and ask me for advice and I'll be happy to give it to you. You can call me anytime and if I don't answer right away, it's just because I'm working and so I can't. I will call you back though as soon as I'm free."

Spencer didn't mention that he also wouldn't answer if he and Aaron were in the midst making love, as sometimes they did get calls when they were doing that, although they were usually for work.

"Thanks a lot for your advice, big brother, I'm really hoping that my nightmares will go away once I start to get my life back on track," Chance said.

"Just remember that if you slip up, and start to go back to your old ways those nightmares you've been having might very well come back and I know you don't want that," Spencer told his brother.

Chance shook his head vigorously and actually shuddered, as he thought about the nightmares that were so terrifying that once he got rid of them he didn't want them to ever come back and he would do nearly anything to prevent that from happening.

Hotch watched and listened to the conversation and knew it was about end, so he slipped away quietly so he wasn't seen.

Hopefully, Chance would now get his life back on track and stop all the partying, the drinking and the whoring and and throwing his life away. Maybe in a few years he would even settle down with a good women and have a few pups, legitimate ones that is. If that day ever came Hotch would know for sure that Chance wasn't about to slip back into his old ways, which could still happen, although thanks to the nightmares Chance had described, Hotch did not see that occurring, but still you never knew, since some people could be extremely stubborn as well stupid. According to Spencer, Chance was an intelligent man with a wild side and since Hotch had known him since he was about 14 he knew that Spencer's brother did indeed have a sensible side, though that hadn't been obvious much ever since he was about 19, since that was when Chance and let that wild side of his take over.

Hotch was sure if it hadn't been for that spell, Chance never would have changed his ways and continued to waste his life away partying and having sex with his many women as he could not bothering to use protection. Now though, perhaps, Spencer would stop worrying about his black sheep of a brother so much.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Three months later

Spencer sat at his desk in the BAU doing paperwork. Unlike all his teammates he was always done first because he could read through whatever paperwork there was much more rapidly then they could and therefore, he was always the first to finish.

Morgan always tried to push some of his paperwork off on his teammate, but Spencer would have none of it, most of the time since he could leave early when he got done if it was just a paperwork day. His teammates had gotten used to the way he read so rapidly now, but they were still very envious and a little jealous of his ability to do the paperwork in half the time.

Spencer looked up as his phone buzzed and he looked at the screen that told who was calling. It wasn't a name or number he was familiar with, but he answered it anyway as it could be important.

"Hello?" Spencer answered.

Spencer listened to the voice on the other end of his phone. "Yes, ma'am, I'll be right there."

Spencer hung up and found the rest of his teammates, except for Hotch who was in his office looking at him curiously.

"Sorry it's a personal family matter, so I'll just go tell Hotch I'm leaving and then get out of here."

"But we are your family," Morgan protested.

"Yes, you are," Spencer told all of them, "however, until I get this sorted out this is going to remain between me and Hotch and that's just the way it has to be."

"You will tell us when you get it sorted out, right?" asked Emily.

"Of course," Spencer agreed rising from his desk and heading across the bullpen and up the two steps that led to several offices including his mate's.

Spencer knocked on the door and when he was told to come in he opened the door entered and closed it firmly behind him.

"What can I do for you, Spencer?" asked Hotch looking up on his paperwork. Hotch's eyes warmed unmeasurably when he looked at his mate who he adored beyond all the heavens and Spencer was well aware of it.

"I just got a very interesting phone call," Spencer explained and went to sit in one of the chairs in front of his mate's desk, making sure to close Hotch's office door behind him. Spencer then went onto explain exactly what the phone call was about and Hotch listened mentally shaking his head.

Spencer's black sheep of a brother had struck again he had no doubt about that at all. Of course, it was some consolation that this had likely happened before Chance had started trying to change his life.

"So you're saying that there're quadruplets at the Virginia hospital and that the mother died just after giving birth from an aneurysm in the brain. The hospital managed to track you down, because they took the DNA from one of the quads and you're the only one in the computer system since you work for the FBI. Also you share 25% DNA with those quadruplets which makes you a close relative."

"Yeah, only an uncle or an aunt with their nephews and nieces share 25% of their DNA or vice versa of course, because each parent passes the child 50% of their DNA and brothers and sisters share the same amount of genes, but when we are talking about grandparents or cousins the percentage of DNA shared gets considerably lower, since they are more distantly related."

"So because you share so much of their DNA and they can't locate the father..." Hotch said leaving the sentence hanging.

"Which we both know is my brother Chance, because the possibility of those quadruplets sharing so much of my DNA without them being related well they are so minuscule that it's not even worth calculating. It's possible of course, but so unlikely..."

"So you going to go down to the hospital and see for yourself?" Hotch asked already knowing the answer before he asked the question.

"I am, as I need to see for myself and after I do I'll call Chance to come to the hospital. I'll take custody of them if it's necessary, but I believe with Chance finally getting his life back on track that it's time for him to accept responsibility for the lives he created."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Hotch asked a little apprehensively. "I'm not sure Chance is ready to accept so much responsibility."

"I wasn't going to leave him all by his lonesome to raise them by himself," Spencer assured his mate with a smile, unoffended since he understood very well Aaron's concern. "The whole family will be there to help out when he needs it. You won't be able to keep Andrew from helping once he learns of this or Liya for that matter. I'm sure those two will be a major part of these quads lives, since they live the closest, except for us. The others will help to, but they don't live as close as the two names I mentioned do. Luckily, all the others can pop in anytime they like thanks to Apparition and the Floo network, even if the time changes are a pain to deal with, although not so much if it's only for a few hours. I believe we need to give my brother this chance to prove that he is starting to be responsible and this is the perfect way to do that as he'll have plenty of help. I'll even ask Amelia to take on the responsibility for being the quads nanny since all our children are almost grown now and are certainly old enough to stay by themselves. It's hard to believe, but even the youngest of them will have graduated from Salem Institute by next year."

"You're right," Hotch finally agreed. "We need to give your brother some responsibility and see how he does and it's only the fact that he'll have plenty of help that I'm even halfway comfortable with this, as pups tend to be really delicate when they're young."

"I would never put Chance in charge of such young children, whether he was their father or not, unless I was sure that he was up to the challenge," Spencer assured his mate. "However, before I tell my brother about them, I need to see for myself and see they look even remotely like him. I'm not saying that the DNA test that was done is wrong, but it's just..."

"You just want to look for yourself to make sure," Hotch finished and Spencer nodded.

"Resemblance tends to run strong in the Reid family so it's very likely that at least one of them does indeed look a great deal like my brother," Spencer explained.

"So do you know the sexes?" asked Hotch.

"No, I was so shocked from the call from the hospital, that I didn't even think to ask, but I'll know soon enough. The most likely possibility is that there is some of each, although all boys tend to strong in the Reid family too, so it could go either way. I will be totally shocked however, if it turns out to be all girls or all boys especially with so many. Twins are one thing, quads are quite another," Spencer said.

"You had better get going, just make sure you text me when you do find out," Hotch said. "You've worked overtime often enough that taking off early one day isn't going to matter, especially since it's just a paperwork day."

"I'm mostly done with my paperwork anyway," Spencer said with a smirk causing Hotch to chuckle.

"I bet you, Morgan was annoyed," Hotch suggested with a smirk.

"No, bet," Spencer told his mate with a wide grin. "If you had seen the stack the paperwork he still needed to get through and how he looked extremely annoyed when he saw I was almost done you would have been chuckling."

"You shouldn't take such pleasure and others people's frustration and annoyance," Hotch mock scolded him with a half smile.

"Hey, it's one of a few pleasures in life I get," Spencer told his mate with a grin. "At least when it comes to staying in the office and completing boring paperwork when we don't have a case. Besides, Morgan's teased me often enough that I think a little subtle revenge is necessary and I have better things to do then stay around the office and do his paperwork, since I've already mostly finished mine."

"I'll see you at home at five thirty unless you text me that you're going to be delayed," Hotch told Spencer who nodded. "And you're right Morgan does need to learn to do his own paperwork and yes, he teases you enough to warrant a little payback."

"I'm not exactly sure how long this is going to take, we'll just have to see," Spencer said rising from his seat in front of his mate's desk and waving goodbye as he headed for Hotch's office door.

"I'll see you at home," Spencer said softly knowing that his mate would hear him because of his wolf hearing.

"See you," Hotch said before going back to his paperwork, as Spencer opened his mate's office door and headed across the bullpen and towards the elevator.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Spencer took a deep breath knocked on the office door K. Cochran. The nurse at the nursing station had directed him here, when he had inquired about where the office was for Karen Cochran. It had been Dr. Cochran that had contacted him about the quads and she had told him, to ask for her as soon as he arrived.

"Come in," came a female voice

Spencer opened the door and entered Dr. Cochran's office. "I'm Dr. Spencer Reid," Spencer immediately introduced himself. "I received a call about some quadruplets that had my DNA?"

"Dr. Karen Cochran," Karen said rising from behind her desk and shaking the handsome man's hand. Dr. Reid looked to be either late 30s or early 40s and therefore, considerably younger than she herself was. "Why don't you take a seat?"

Spencer did so and politely put his hands in his lap looking intently at her waiting for her to begin his expression neutral.

"Now I told you on the phone that the DNA test we did showed a 25% match which would make you those four children's uncle," Karen began.

"So you said on the phone," Spencer said not revealing any further information.

"We were unable to locate the father though we did try," Karen said. "Thanks to the DNA test you were the closest relative we could locate."

"What do you want from me?" asked Spencer. "If you're asking if I'm willing to take them and then the answer is yes, as they are my nieces and nephews after all."

"I was actually asking if you know who the father is?" Karen asked.

"Yes, I do," Spencer said with a sigh. "It could only be one of my three brothers as they're all married including me, all except for one. I would be willing to take them just as I said, but I believe it is a father's responsibility to look after them, even if he has to hire help in order to do that since there are so many of them. I can contact my brother Chance if you like and he can be here in just a few minutes."

"So you believe that your brother chance is the father?" Karen asked.

"No, I know Chance is the father," Spencer corrected, "because as much as I hate to admit it he's been kind of a black sheep in our family ever since he graduated from high school. He's always had a bit of a wild side, but for the last year he's been trying to straighten out his life. I think this type of responsibility would be perfect for him and will help him not slide back into the way he was before. Me and the rest of the family will of course, keep a close eye on how he's doing and we'll be constant visitors to his home to make sure he's coping alright."

"Well, he is the father," Karen said reluctantly and Spencer nodded in agreement. "We'll have to do with DNA test of course, just to prove that he is, but once that is done..."

"I know you are worried about releasing four tiny children into the care of someone who is so irresponsible," Spencer said and Karen nodded in confirmation. "However, I would not have even suggested it if I wasn't sure my brother was up to the responsibility. He really has changed a great deal in the last year as he realized that he was ruining his life and no, he was never into doing drugs just into partying and drinking and having sex with as many women as possible. I tried to talk to him several times and so did my brothers and sisters, but he wasn't really grownup enough to listen. However, he came to me months ago and told me that he had been having nightmares and I told him that his conscience was probably finally waking up and telling him that it was time to finally fix his life and ever since he started to get it back on track his nightmares have almost ceased."

"His nightmares must've been pretty bad for someone like that to change his ways," Karen suggested and Spencer nodded.

"They were, at least from what he told me and I can understand why he didn't want to continue to have them. For one thing he was losing massive amounts of sleep and he had black bags under his eyes deep enough to hide all sorts of things in and looked so tired and worn down that you wouldn't have believed it was the same man. Despite what I told you Chance really is an intelligent, gentle, compassionate man who just has a wild side that he let take over for a lot of years. Chance also told me that he couldn't go back to sleep after one of his nightmares and that he shook for at least an hour afterwards so they must have been really bad."

"In any case, when he made the decision to try to get his life back on track and stopped partying, drinking, having sex with every pretty woman that crossed his path and started to take steps to do just that the nightmares started fading slowly at first, but they are almost completely gone now. I truly believe, that deep down Chance was starting to feel guilty for the way he lived his life, which is likely why his conscience started pricking at him in the first place and why he had nightmares when he slept. Dr. Cochran my brother isn't a bad man, just a misguided one. Chance just lost his way for awhile and he also inherited the Reid stubbornness and refused to listen to good advice, which is another reason that he continued to be like he was, until about a year ago," Reid explained truthfully.

"Well, I have no choice, but to release them into their father's care because he has a legal right to his children, once the DNA test confirms that he is indeed the parent."

"Can I at least see the children first, I want to see if any of them look like my brother before I actually call him," Spencer asked. "It's not that I doubt your DNA test, it's just that I would like to see for myself if they look anything like my brother. Family resemblance runs strong in the Reid family, so at least one of them should look like Chance."

"Of course, they're in the nursery," Karen said still looking uncertain.

"I would adopt them in a second and get my brother to agree to it, since he is their only living parent if I believed that would be what was best for them I would do it in a heartbeat, but the only problem with that is I'm gone out of town a lot for my job, while Chance and several of my siblings work 9 to 5 and therefore, would be far better to raise them then I would be."

Spencer rose from the chair he was sitting in and turned to leave the office, but at the last second he turned back around and asked, "I meant to ask you all is it all boys or all girls or both sexes?"

"It's two of each," Karen said and Spencer nodded, because that was what he had expected.

"That's what I expected, since having all the same sex with four of them, well, it's possible of course, but it's more common to have some of each. So before I head up to the nursery floor was the mother Shifter or a Normal?"

"She was a wolf Shifter," Karen said and Spencer nodded.

"There are several wolf Shifters in our family so they'll be able to teach the quads what they need to know when they're old enough. I'm assuming you want to see my brother once he gets here?"

"Yes, because we'll need to do that DNA test and it will take about a week to get the results," Karen explained.

"Yes, I know," Spencer said briefly with a smile. "So what was the mother's name?"

"Rosie Wickham," Karen said.

"And the children? I'm assuming the mother named them before she died of that burst aneurysm in her brain," Spencer asked.

"Yes, Miss Wickham just had enough time to name her children before that aneurysm in her brain burst killing her instantly," Karen said looking sad. "As for their names are Bernadette, Hester, Zane and Wesley and I believe both sets are identical twins."

"Wow identical twins, two sets of them from the same woman," Spencer murmured. "The odds of that happening are astronomical."

"Yes, I know which is why I was so surprised," Karen said. "We can't be sure of course, until their eyes change color in about a year, but right now they look absolutely identical."

Spencer nodded and still in a daze walked out of Karen Cochran office and as soon as the door was closed he made his way to the nursery that was up a level and texted Aaron just like he'd promised he would as soon as he was in the elevator.

His phone buzzed just as he stepped off and he took a minute to read his mate's short message.

Will meet you for dinner at our favorite place at seven if you're done. Just text back to confirm

A

Spencer smiled hoping he would be done by then so he and Aaron could have a nice quiet dinner together at a small place that they had discovered years ago, one that didn't look down on same-sex couples. Of course, the reason they didn't was because it was run by Shifters, but the food was excellent and that was all that really mattered to either him or to Aaron.

Spencer walked down a short hallway until he located the nursery window and looked inside trying to read the nametags.

"Excuse me, sir which child are you looking for?" came a soft female voice.

Spencer looked up and saw a lady in a nurses uniform about his age that was now standing beside him.

"I'm looking for the quadruplets and they should either be under Wickham or Reid," Spencer said. "I'm their uncle and their father is my brother. Their mother died just after giving birth."

"Ah, yes," the nurse said with a nod. "We actually have several sets of quads in the nursery at the moment, most of whom have at least one Shifter as a parent, although in one case both parents are complete Normals and tell me as far as they know there are no Shifters in their family tree."

"Normals can have quadruplets to, although I'll admit it's not as common," Spencer said and the nurse nodded in agreement. "It's also very possible that they do have Shifter blood, but it's so far back that it doesn't really count."

"So is their father going to claim them then?" asked the nurse curiously.

"He will once I tell them, but they tracked me down first, because I work for the FBI and therefore, my DNA is in the computer system. I just wanted to come up here and see for myself first," Spencer said.

"I'll let you feed one, if you follow procedure, so you can," the nurse said liking this Spencer Reid.

"I'm very familiar with the procedure since I've been in hospital a lot over the last few years, since I have seven siblings and only my brother Chance, the quads father is not married," Spencer informed the nurse. "There's been quite a few babies born into my family in the last 15 or so years."

"Well, then you should be able to get through this procedure fast so that you can hold one of your nieces and nephews," the nurse said smiling.

"I should," Spencer agreed also smiling following the nurse so he could get through the decontamination procedures fast as he was anxious to hold at least one of his nieces and nephews.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	23. Chapter 23

Chance looked through the glass of the nursery window and stared at the four beautiful babies that he had helped create with a woman who was now dead.

"Are you sure they're mine?" Chance asked his brother who stood there beside him.

"Yes, I'm positive," Spencer told Chance feeling just a little bit sympathetic, since taking care of four small children was going to be no picnic, even with Amelia and her granddaughters to help. "All four of them look way too much like you as a baby for you to not to be their father. I remember exactly what you looked like when you were this small since I was around six when you and Andrew were born. You'll have to take a DNA test to prove that you are their father, but I have no doubt of the results, not one. Now my question is, are you going to accept responsibility for them or are you going to slip back into your partying ways?"

Chance sighed, but squared his shoulders and said, "Yes, I'll accept responsibility for them, since as you said they are my children."

"Good, I'm proud of you, brother," Spencer told Chance slapping him on the back affectionately. "Don't worry to much you'll have plenty of help to look after them," Spencer added after a moment, "You won't be a able to keep Andrew or any of your other siblings away once they learn of their existence. Also I'm going to ask Amelia and her granddaughters if they're willing to come work for you to help look after them, although the operative word here is help not take over your responsibility."

"You don't have to do that," Chance protested.

"Well, Amelia's been feeling kind of, um, bored since Aaron's and my children are almost grownup and they're in school most of the year anyway. Even the youngest of them graduate pretty soon and then they'll be grown adults, so they don't really need adult supervision anymore. Amelia's been helping out with all the children in the family and you know the house is usually filled with kids of various ages, since the nursery is setup like it is. Amelia won't mind helping you with yours, since she loves looking after children, as do her granddaughters, that only help out part time now since they have part time jobs and even boyfriends. I won't be surprised if they get married sometime in the next year or two."

"Alright then," Chance finally agreed.

"So do you want to know their names?" asked Spencer.

"The mother had time to name them before she died?" asked Chance and Spencer nodded.

"She didn't die due to childbirth, she died because an aneurysm in her brain burst, just minutes after she had given birth. An aneurysm us just a weak spot in the brain matter and some people can go through their whole lives with one in their brain and it never bursts, but giving birth puts stress on the body and so sometimes people that have them, well, they don't know it, because even when they die it's so fast that they don't realize what's happening as it's all over in just a second. In Rosie Wickham's case, she had just enough time to name her children, before the aneurysm in her brain burst. It's tragic, but it happens, although rarely."

"Alright then, what did she name them?" asked Chance. "If I don't like them I can change them right?"

"You can, but I was thinking want to honor their mother and keep the names, that she gave them just before she died," Spencer said.

"I make no promises," Chance said.

"Alright then," Spencer sighed, knowing that it was absolutely useless to argue with his brother when he was being so stubborn. "Their names are Bernadette and Hester for the girls, Zane and Wesley for the boys."

"Those names are not to bad," Chance said rolling them around in his mind. "I think I'll probably end up keeping them."

"Good," Spencer said with a relieved sigh. "In any case, there is a lot you'll need to do in the next week or so before you can take them home from the hospital and I'll help you in anyway I can and I know the others will to."

"Thanks, big brother," Chance said giving his brother a one armed hug.

"You're welcome," Spencer told him, "although there's no need to thank me for I am your brother after all and I do love you. Besides, those are my nieces and nephews and I want to make sure that they're well taken care of."

"I promise, I'll take good care of them," Chance said sincerely.

"I know you will and that you'll have more help to raise them then you'll ever need or want," Spencer said with a chuckle, "although the operative word here is help, not do your job for you."

"I'll take all the help I can get, as I know that raising four small babies is not going to be easy, especially for the first few years," Chance told his brother, stressing the word help telling his brother that he got the message and that taking care of these four children was his responsibly. Chance looked at his four children through the nursery window with such happiness and love in his eyes that Spencer knew that his brother would be just fine.

"I know you are up to the task," Spencer told his brother sincerely. "You've changed so much in the last six months that you are almost a totally different person. Actually that's not quite true," Spencer corrected himself, "it's more that you're back to being the boy I used to know before your wild side took over, but with some significant changes, which only makes sense, since you're in your 30s now, when before you were just a boy of 19."

"It's all thanks to you, the rest of my siblings and my nieces and nephews," Chance said, "as I never would have been able to change so much, at least not so fast without your love and support."

"We'll always be there when you really need us," Spencer said. "That's what true family is all about after all. Family always supports each other, no matter what. Of course, if you had actually committed some kind of crime it would've been different, but all you did was lose your way for awhile."

"Gee, thanks, brother, it's so nice to know you love me, so much that you would just abandon me to my fate if I had actually broken the law," Chance said sarcastically.

"I wouldn't have abandoned you as you put it," Spencer told him quite seriously. "I would have expected you to own up to your crime and serve your time in prison, but I would have come and visited you every chance I got and hopefully, when you got out you would have learned your lesson and gotten on with your life. I would have supported you every step of the way, as you tried to put your life back together and the rest to your family would have to and that brother is what family is all about."

Chance had no reply and no answer to his brother's words so he remained silent, though he was deeply touched by how much his brother truly did love him.

The two brothers just stood there looking through the glass at the four beautiful children privately thinking that they were the most gorgeous children in the nursery, although they knew other parents would disagree, as all parents thought their kids were the most gorgeous.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"They are so adorable," Spencer told his mate as the two sat at a table in their favorite restaurant eating their dinner. "I actually got to hold a couple of them and feed them their bottles."

"So you're sure they're Chance's children?" asked Hotch and Spencer nodded.

"Oh, yes, I'm sure," Spencer said, "All of them really look so much like Chance as a baby, even if two of them are girls. Two of them have the black hair of their mother, although it runs in the Potter family to, as you know, but the other two have the exact same shade of Chance's brown hair, at least from what little bit of it there is at the moment. I'm not going by just hair color though, as the boys at least got his cheekbones, nose and even chins, which are the same as when Chance was a baby. I well remember when Chance was born since I was like six years old, and the two boys, except for the black hair could be his twins at the same age."

"So what does Chance think about this?" asked Hotch.

"Well, he's kind of nervous about taking care of four tiny children and he has a right to be," Spencer said. "However, I promised to help and I told him that Andrew would be happy to help too and so would the rest of the family so he didn't have to worry about taking care of them on his own, although most of the responsibility will fall to him since he is their father. I believe that Chance fell in love with all four of them the moment he laid eyes on them and he's anxious to take them home, but he can't do that just yet."

"No, they would have to do a DNA test to confirm that he's the father just for starters and there's a lot of other procedures that they have to do before Chance will be able to take them home," Hotch said.

"Exactly," Spencer said. "Chance is going to have to get a bigger place though, because the apartment he's living in isn't big enough for four tiny children."

"He has a lot of arrangements to make in a very short amount of time," Hotch said. "He's going to need help childproofing his house once he buys one and things like that."

"Which Andrew will be more than happy to help him with and so will Liya, Hudson and Bronwyn and me. The only one that probably won't be able do help because of the big time change is Leah. Leah is pregnant again did you know?" asked Spencer changing the subject.

"She is?" asked Hotch in surprise, not at the change in subject, just that Leah was pregnant again so soon after the birth of her quintuplets just two years ago.

"Yes, I just got a message from her over email a few days ago and I've been meaning to tell you, but we've been so busy that I haven't had a chance," Spencer said.

"It's been just two years," Hotch said, "she said she was going to wait at least three."

"Well, apparently their healer said it was okay," Spencer explained. "She said that her healer gave them the go-ahead to try for more children and that she was all healed. She's only like two months along and she is of course, carrying at least twins, although I wouldn't be surprised if it was at least triplets or even more."

"So how is she handling this pregnancy?" asked Hotch worriedly. "I certainly hope she's handling it better than the last one."

"She said it's going well, and that her morning sickness isn't as severe as the first time," Spencer said. "Of course, she has a long way to go before the morning sickness is over with, but right now she's doing just fine."

"That's good," Hotch said pleased.

"I figure she's probably not carrying as many babies this time, which is probably why her morning sickness isn't as severe, but I could be wrong," Spencer admitted with a shrug. "It could also very well be that it isn't as hot over there right now, since the summer is almost over with and my nieces and nephews should be born in cooler weather."

"Leah is happy and that's all that matters," Hotch said and Spencer nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, she sounded thoroughly happy in her email, though I do need to call and talk to her, sometime in the near future. I only wish that she didn't live so far away."

Spencer didn't actually voice it, but Hotch knew that he wished that Leah wasn't so many time zones away so that they could visit each other more often, but with a 9 1/2 hour time difference the visits were very infrequent, except for a few hours.

"Hudson's wife is also pregnant again," Spencer said.

"What is this like this the fourth child?" asked Hotch.

"Six and seventh, as it's twins," Spencer said. "His wife's first set."

"Well, it's hard for me to imagine Hudson and Bronwyn all grown up, married with children of their own, especially so many," Hotch mused. "Bronwyn has six right?"

"Yes, she does," Spencer said. "Two sets of twins and two singletons and I believe she wants more, but it's probably going to be at least another year before she'll allow herself to get pregnant again, since her last daughter is only about a year old. I know it's hard for you to imagine and it is for me to, but the two of them are now 30 years old as they are 10 years younger than I am, less a few months."

"Yes, it is hard for me to imagine," Hotch admitted. "I still remember them as 10 years old, since that was when I first met them. I know children grow up and get their own lives, but still I remember the two 10 year olds very well. I suppose the fact that I haven't seen them very much since they started school at 11 has a lot to do with the fact it's hard for me to imagine that they're all grown up now. If they visited more frequently like the others do than maybe it wouldn't be so hard for me to think of them that way. I don't have trouble thinking of your other siblings as grownups, but then everybody except Chance, Hudson and Bronwyn visit frequently. Even Leah does, even if it's only for a few hours every couple of weeks."

"We all just get so involved in our own lives, that a lot of little things that happen around us just pass us by. If you have a hard time thinking of Hudson and Bronwyn as 30 years old just imagine how hard it is for me, since I helped raise them from the time they were little, well, at least until I went off to school at 11. We also have to remember that unlike anybody else in the family Hudson and Bronwyn actually got married right after they graduated, which happens quite frequently since it is a coed school, but the rest of the family didn't meet their partners until years later. I mean Leah was 34 when she met Adnan, and Natalie got engaged about the same time that Ryan and Andrew found out they were True Mates like we are, which means that both of them had been graduated from the school in Vegas for quite a few years. Andrew at least was 26 when he and Ryan met and Natalie several years younger, while Liya was around my age when I met you. Now if only Chance would find someone and settle down, although having quadruplets from another woman is going to make it harder to do that, since a lot of women aren't willing to marry a man that already has kids of his own, especially if she was just a one night stand. I'm not saying it's right that some people think that way just that they do," Spencer said.

"The right person will come along for Chance, someone who genuinely loves children and doesn't mind that Chance has four of them, from a one night stand," Hotch said and Spencer nodded.

"Or that he's fathered several dozen more," Spencer added and Hotch grinned at that.

"Or that technically Cooper, Ceridwen, Fen and Rafe are his as well, even if Rafe is being raised by his mother, but spends a lot of time with Andrew and various other people in the family while she's going back to college to get her degree in business management," Hotch added.

"I'm so glad that Louise decided to accept my offer," Spencer said, "although it took quite a few visits before she even began to trust me and I can't really blame her for that at all."

"But because you took the time to visit her and her son, as often as your time allowed, she decided to accept your offer in the end," Hotch said.

"And I'm glad of it," Spencer said, "because she's bettering herself even if I'm paying the way. I know she promised to pay me back once she graduated and got her own business started, but I told her she didn't have to."

"She will anyway because it's a matter pride," Hotch told Spencer who nodded. "It's like getting a loan from a bank, which has to be paid back within a certain amount of time and that's why she'll pay you back every penny that she borrowed from you so she could go to college. Besides, she owes you for looking after her son and the rest of your family for doing the same, as she doesn't have to pay for childcare, which can be very expensive after awhile as you know. I mean you're paying for her apartment in an area that's in a better part of town, for the food that she eats, for the clothes she's wearing and even though you have the money, still, she knows that not many people would have gone so far to help, even if her son was their nephew, so while she's grateful she still determined to pay you back as soon as she can, so that's it's loan instead of charity."

"You're right," Spencer conceded.

"Besides, what really clinched it for her was that Rafe adores you and she knows very well that pups can sense when somebody has bad intentions," Hotch said. "You won her over just because you treated Rafe gently and played with him when you visited so that it was clear you were used to having children around and that they trusted you and you know that's a big thing with any parent that loves their child. I truly believe that's what won her over in end. If Rafe hadn't liked you I doubt very much that Louise would have ever have accepted your offer."

"Well, at least she did and she's well on her way to getting her business degree and once she does I'm going to help her set up her own little business. Louise knows that she and her son are now truly part of the family and that we help those that we love in whatever they decide to do with their lives, just as I helped Chance when he decided what he wanted to do," Spencer said.

"I have to admit you were right about your brother, he really seems to be trying his best to keep his life on track," Hotch said. "He really has improved a lot, he doesn't drink so much and as far as I know he hasn't had sex with a women since he decided that he needed to change his life, although I don't know for sure of course."

"Well, if he has he knows now that he always needs to use protection and I doubt very much he'll forget his nightmares anytime soon, if ever, even if the vividness and the horror of them will fade after a few years," Spencer said with some satisfaction causing Hotch to look smug since it had been his idea originally.

The two men continued to talk softly, sharing a few soft kisses as they ate dinner. Normally the two of them never, so blatantly displayed their affections in public, keeping it to holding hands or kissing on the cheek. However, in this restaurant that was run by Shifters, the other diners didn't think anything of two men showing their affection for each other, since at least half of them were also mated couples whether the male/male, male/female or even female/female, and the rest were Normals that didn't mind same-sex couples, because if they did they were simply escorted to the door told not to come back it wasn't surprising that they felt free to display their relationship more freely then they normally did in a public place.

"This has been really nice, Aaron," Spencer told his mate kissing Hotch on the cheek. "I'm glad you suggested going out to dinner, as we really don't get this pleasure too often, not with how busy we are."

"It was my pleasure," Hotch said taking his mate's hand in his under the table and giving it a squeeze. "I'm glad you got done at the hospital in time."

"The doctor wasn't too happy about turning the quads over to their father, but she really has no choice, or at least she won't as soon as the DNA test comes back and I have no doubt that it will show they are 50% related since all four of them look too much like Chance for him not to be their dad."

"Well, the doctor might not be too happy with the situation, but she really doesn't have any choice, as she does have to obey the law," Hotch said.

"You know perhaps, I can help Chance find a house over the next few days if I'm not too busy," Spencer mused. "It doesn't necessarily have to be near you and me, but I would like somewhere in either Virginia or Washington so that we and the others can visit frequently. I'm sure Andrew will be glad to help his brother find a house to, somewhere with a big backyard for the quads to run and play once they get a little older. I'll mention it too Chance, when I see him sometime in the next day or so."

"I'm sure he'll be glad of the help," Hotch assured his mate.

"And it might be better just for him to buy the house outright, or I suppose I can help him set up an account where his bills are paid automatically every month since I know he won't want to bother paying bills and this way he won't have to worry about it, just like we don't need to."

"Discuss it with him and let him decide what's best, as after all it is his life," Hotch suggested and Spencer agreed since it was his brother's life after all.

The two of them finished their shared dessert and when the waiter appeared Hotch paid the check and he and Spencer left the restaurant hand-in-hand.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Six months later

"Ryan, I believe it's time," Andrew told his mate at the two of them laid together on the couch.

"Time for what?" questioned Ryan, but then he suddenly understood what Andrew was getting at once he saw the look on his mate's face.

"Are you sure you ready to get pregnant again? It's only been a little over year and a half after all," Ryan said. "We also have Cooper, Ceridwen and Fen to think about, even though they're technically your brother's children. Yes, he did sign them over to us, so we could adopt them, but still we wouldn't want them to feel unwanted or unloved. We don't want the three of them to feel like we're going to abandon them. The twins in particular aren't really sure about their place and I don't blame them for that considering what we know how their mother treated them."

"Yes, they still are a little cautious around us," Andrew admitted, "but I firmly believe that if we explain to them, about how they'll be getting some brothers and sisters in a few months that they'll support the idea. We'll tell them that we aren't going to abandon them and that they are still our children no matter, how many others we happen to have. Of course, we won't be able to have as many as we had planned on because we don't have the space thanks to us taking in those three, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth it."

"Yes, it was worth it and Fen and Rafe are the two least affected, but then in Fen's case he is still only three, but then he was only 2 1/2 or so when he came to us, so he's too young really to remember that orphanage and probably in another year or so he'll truly believe that we are his parents. The twins however, were 3, but still I think firmly believe in another year they will have forgotten almost totally the mother that abused them, so badly since just like Fen they are still so young. Spencer was telling me once that most children under five don't remember anything, about their childhood, except sometimes vague impressions, and I'm sure that will be true of the twins and it definitely is for Fen. Cooper and Ceridwen are still a little cautious around adults I'll admit, but I believe so long as we continue to treat them with kindness and love that will fade, as they become more integrated into the household," Andrew explained.

"Yes, I believe you're right," Ryan said finally trying to remember everything he knew about young children, which wasn't as much as his teammate, but still he did know a considerable amount.

"Children that young just need to know they are loved, just as Rafe knows his mother loves him, but just couldn't take care of him properly until my brother stepped in. I'm glad that Louise really does love her son and now she has a chance to really make a good life for him as well as herself, thanks to my brother," Andrew said.

"And at least that's one child that your idiot brother fathered that was actually being taken care of," Ryan said scathingly.

"Chance can be an idiot," Andrew said unoffended, "However, you don't really know him that well and he really is a compassionate, intelligent man, a lot like everybody else in the family, when he's not letting his wild side take over. Once you really get to know him you'll see how similar we really are, well, in someways anyway. I'll admit our personalities are totally different, but our core values are basically the same. You don't have to like him, and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't, but you have to remember that he is my brother and I do love him, even when he's been an idiot. Chance out of all of us is the one that has a wild side, almost like a totally different personality, while the rest of us could never do what he did for so long. I firmly believe that he takes after Uncle Cole in that respect, even though I never met him since he died before I was born. Mom used to talk about him and tell all us stories how wild and free he was. At least Spencer's stepped in and stopped Chance from getting himself killed like what happened to Uncle Cole, so many years ago. I'm sure that Uncle Cole would've been just like Chance and there would have been a lot of little illegitimate Potters running around if he had ever had a chance to finish growing up."

"I'm sorry," Ryan said contritely, kissing the side of his mate's neck by way of apology.

"You're forgiven," Andrew told him with a smile enjoying the attention. There would be no other person man or woman that he would ever love as much as Ryan, even if he were to die while in the field. "Like I freely admitted a few minutes ago Chance can be an idiot, but luckily, Spence has straightened him out."

"Are you sure it's a permanent change?" asked Ryan cautiously. "It would be so easy for him to slip back into his old ways."

"I think that's what Spence feared to, which is why when he found out about the quads and that Chance was the father, he decided that it would be his responsibility to raise them."

"I'm still not sure that was the best decision," Ryan admitted wondering what his teammate had been thinking.

"You don't know Spence, as well as I do," Andrew told his mate. "He never would have given Chance the responsibility for raising those four children if he wasn't sure that his brother could handle it and it also has the added advantage of Chance being less likely to slip back to his old ways so long, as he is responsible for those four little lives. Chance like all Potters loves children, even if that was buried for awhile in his partying and whoring ways and you know that might even be the reason why he gave so much of his jizz to various sperm banks. It's quite possible that subconsciously he wanted to father as many children as possible. Also you have to consider that Spencer knew that him and all of us would be there to help Chance to make sure that he was taking proper care of his sons and daughters."

Ryan thought about that for a long minute then nodded and realized that had likely been part of his teammate's plan all along. Get Chance to take responsibility and stop being so wild. Cement that change by getting him to take care of his own children. And finally make sure he's checked up on frequently and that he has plenty of help to look after the quads just in case he starts to slip back into his old ways. Ryan wondered what Spencer's plan had been to stop Chance from slipping back into his wild ways, if the quads hadn't been born or if their mother hadn't died due to an aneurysm. In any case, it had presented Spencer with the perfect opportunity to give his brother some responsibility and at the same time stop him from going back to his old ways.

Ryan doubted that Spencer would ever tell him what his original plan had been or even if there had been one since he could be very secretive when he wanted to be and it was impossible to pry the information out of him if he didn't want to talk about it.

"So back to the subject you brought up a little while ago about having more children," Ryan finally said coming out of his thoughts.

"What do you think?" asked Andrew. "One of the reasons I want to go ahead and now is I'm not getting any younger, as I'm 33. Now while that's quite young for a witch or wizard, most women have their children while they are young before, like before they hit 35 or so. Of course, it also depends when they get married, but a lot of magical people get married right after they finish wizarding school. Even with the potions that can be taken to prevent the swelling of your feet or the pain in your back pregnancy is still hard on the body, the heart especially. Now while you're young and healthy this doesn't really matter too much but you're heart has to work at least twice as hard when you're pregnant, especially if you exert yourself and that's only with a singleton not multiples."

"Alright then, if you are sure you are ready and the healer gives you the okay, then it is fine with me," Ryan finally said giving in.

"Addison said he had been expecting me to come back to have the spells put back on me at least the last few months, because he knew even though I wanted to wait at least two years that I might decide to do it earlier while I was still relatively young, especially if I want more after this."

"Well, Addison is an intelligent man," Ryan chuckled, as he had met him before and had liked the kind, compassionate man

"Yes, he is," Andrew agreed readily, "and he noticed soon after meeting me that I'm a lot like his protégé, my brother Spencer and so he knew that I would be back, to have those spells put on me, probably sooner than I had originally planned, just like my brother years ago. Looks like he was right about that."

"All right then, you can have it done, but I would prefer that Addison do it while I'm on a case so that we can get started as soon as I get home and this way we don't have to abstain from making love for 24 hours."

"Okay then, as soon as you are called on a case I'll make an appointment with Addison," Andrew immediately agreed thinking that it was a sensible precaution and he might as well take advantage of Ryan being gone, so that they didn't have to wait 24 hours in order to make love and could get started as soon as Ryan walked in the door, so it was just as well since he usually attacked his mate the minute he got home after being gone for several days and he know that Ryan didn't mind at all.

"So how many do you think we'll have this time?" asked Ryan.

"Well, it doesn't matter to me although I'm hoping for some girls since we had all boys last time. Yes, we have Ceridwen now, but I'm still hoping for some girls," Andrew answered.

"Yes, I'd like some daughters to," Ryan agreed. "Of course, if we don't get our wish this time there's always next time."

"If I decide to go through in again you mean," Andrew reminded his mate who grinned back and him.

"You will," Ryan told his mate confidently, "so long as there are no complications and the birth goes well then you will decide to get pregnant again and have more children."

"You know me too well," Andrew declared laughing. "Yes, so long as it goes well, both the pregnancy and the birth, then I will decide to have more, although the third time will likely be the last depending of course, how many children we get this time and the next."

"What? You don't want as many is your brother?" Ryan teased.

"No, 22 would be way too many," Andrew declared laughing again. "I don't know how my brother or Uncle Aaron for that matter handled so many."

"With plenty of help," Ryan said and Andrew nodded in agreement. "Luckily, your brother has plenty of money to hire the best help available."

"And so do we," Andrew reminded Ryan. "We already have one nanny for the triplets and the older three children and we can easily hire more if we need to."

"Well, after this next batch is on the way we are going to have to hire more help," Ryan said. "Even though we pay the nanny well she's already said that six is really more than she can handle by herself even if three of them are older and out of the diaper stage."

"Cooper and Ceridwen were still in diapers when they first came to us," Andrew reminded Ryan trying to keep the anger he felt at the twins mother out of his voice.

Cooper and Ceridwen had been months behind other children their own age, maybe even a year, as they should've been out of nappies by that time and also able to walk and run around and be speaking in sentences.

Thanks to their mother they were still barely crawling, as they had been confined to the playpen way too much and also hadn't been potty trained. They had been shouted at for talking so much that they were still barely saying any words at all and every adult in their lives tried their best to encourage them. Thanks to constant attention and encouragement for the last six months, they were at least now potty trained, which was a relief to everyone and they were even starting to walk some as their legs strengthened, their muscles had been quite weak due to inactivity and because their mother hadn't allowed them to develop normally by taking them to the park or any place really. Lara Johnson had barely remembered to change their diapers or to feed them and while the babysitter had done a better job she wasn't really a constant in their lives.

Andrew knew that if his brother hadn't discovered them when he did that the two of them never would have grown up normally and might never have been able to ever walk at all, because at their limbs hadn't been used for the most part until they were rescued. If they had been rescued at a later age it was very possible that they would never be able to move around under their own power, because their legs wouldn't have the muscles necessary to keep them on their feet and would be completely useless.

Andrew shook his head, as he thought about the woman that had treated her own children so callously, but at least his niece and nephew that was now his son and daughter were now doing much better.

Andrew thought that Lara Johnson should go to prison for a very long time for the way she had treated those two innocent little lives and he knew his brother and mate agreed with that opinion, but hadn't wanted to drag his niece and nephew through a long traumatic court battle, which he could understand and agree with.

"Yes, I know I try not to think about it too much," Ryan admitted. "Because when I do all I want to do is go shake that women until some sense rattles forward in her thick skull. You know that us wolf Shifters are particularly protective our mates and pups, but that protectiveness extends to innocent children as well and that they're related to our family just makes me want to go give that woman what she deserves. Now most child abuse I can't do anything about, except legally in some cases and I know I really can't do anything about Lara Johnson either, but I can't help thinking of scenarios where I would like to torture that woman just like she did to those two sweet innocent children. I'd like to break her legs and see how she likes it when she can't walk and multiple other things I won't mention."

"Yeah, I've had some of those scenarios running through my head to," Andrew admitted, "and I'm not a wolf Shifter."

"Let's think of things more pleasant," Ryan suggested with a certain look in his green eyes.

"Is that all you ever think about?" Andrew asked laughing knowing that look very well.

"When it comes to you, absolutely!" Ryan answered immediately with a wolfish grin eyeing his mate's naked body up and down thinking of all kinds of things he would like to do to it.

Andrew couldn't help himself he burst into laughter Ryan joining him a moment later.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Several months later

"So you're pregnant again," Liya asked her brother.

"I am," Andrew told his sister, even as he patted his tummy lovingly.

"I'm really proud of you for going through with this, especially a second time, as I know very well how painful being pregnant and giving birth can be," Liya told her brother giving him a hug.

"Thank you," Andrew said blush and accepting the hug. He and his sister Liya had always been especially close and by extension so was Leah since she and her twin were very similar personalitywise. The three of them were much closer than he was to his own twin Chance, probably because they had very similar personalities and were pretty close in age, being just two years apart. They shared a lot of similar interests to, which helped he knew. Now though he hardly ever saw Leah anymore, since she lived in India with her husband and her kids, so it was mostly just him and Liya.

"Ryan and I really wanted more children despite the fact that we already have three, who are still pretty young and also the three that look so much like me even if they're technically Chance's."

"It doesn't matter that their Chance's or not," Liya told him. "Our brother might be doing better when it comes to accepting responsibility, but he still legally gave you the right to raise them by signing authority over to you. They're your sons and daughters now for all intents and purposes and they will grow up thinking of you as their father and that's all that really matters."

"You're right," Andrew said. "I need to start thinking of them as mine and not my brothers. It doesn't really matter that Chance technically fathered them as we are twins and thanks to the fact that we look so much alike, they'll never know that Chance is their father unless someone tells them and I certainly have no intention of doing that since that would open up a whole can of worms that none of us need to have to deal with."

"And if they come to you someday and ask her that father is?" asked Liya.

"Then I'll tell them as I would never lie to them, but since all three of them look so much like me as well as Chance, I doubt that will ever happen," Andrew said Liya nodded.

"Probably not, but you never know," Liya said. "So how many children do you think you're carrying this time?"

"Well, Addison believes that I'm carrying four this time," Andrew said, as he patted his tummy lovingly once again.

"Well, you are certainly wearing your pregnancy well," Liya said enviously. "I wish I was as comfortable every time I got pregnant as you seem to be."

"Well, I'm taller and bigger then you are and believe me, that helps," Andrew told his sister who nodded. "Really Chance and I are the only members of the family that are fairly bulky like our father while the rest got our mom's slimness. Besides, I sit down a lot for my job and am rarely on my feet like you are and that helps to."

"Yes, I suppose it does," Liya admitted. "Still, I wish I had your ability to be pregnant so gracefully and take to it so easily as you do."

"Believe me, if I didn't take those pain potions that help with the back pain, I wouldn't be," Andrew said. "Really all I'm feeling is the weight of the babies I'm carrying, but not the pain that brings thanks to that potion that Addison prescribed."

"Yes, I know I take same potion when I'm pregnant," Liya said, "However, that doesn't mean carrying even a single baby is easy and here you are carrying four."

"Every pregnancy is different," Andrew said, "And so is every woman that gets pregnant."

"You're not a woman though," Liya told him, "and therefore, I don't think it's fair that you should be able to carry all those babies, my nieces and nephews, with such grace and dignity, especially since it isn't even natural for you to be able to have children."

Andrew looked at his sister and could see that while she was teasing and she was also a little envious of his ability to carry so many lives within him and do it with no complaints and make it look as natural as some women would.

"Maybe I should've been born a woman then," Andrew joked.

"No, you shouldn't have," Liya told him hugging him fiercely and kissing kiss cheek. "You were always meant to be my brother and not my sister and I might be a little envious and jealous of your ability to be pregnant and make it look like the most natural thing in the world, but I still love you."

"I love you too," Andrew promised his sister holding her close to him and kissing her on the forehead.

"So do you know what sex you are carrying since you are four months along now?" asked Liya. "Or have you not found that out yet?"

"If you must know I'm carrying three girls and a boy, and since Ryan and I wanted girls we are definitely very happy with the results."

"Yeah, I would be too since you had all boys last time," Liya admitted. "So are you going to have anymore after this?"

"Probably in a year or two," Andrew admitted. "Ryan and I have the room since we bought that big old place and we could have another half a dozen and not run out of space or have the children share. Besides, the rooms are big enough that they can share if necessary, and the triplets might want to share when they get a little older since they are all boys. Besides, if we have more then we have rooms for, the rooms can always be expanded if necessary using magic or even extra rooms added."

"That's true," Liya agreed.

"Besides, I told Ryan that my next pregnancy would likely be my last because while I don't mind having a dozen children of various ages running around, I do not want to have as many as Spencer and Aaron did."

"I can't really blame you there," Liya said laughing. "I don't intend to have that many either, but then again I'm not married to a Shifter where multiple births are the norm. So are you happy?"

Andrew knew immediately what his sister was asking and answered honestly, "Yes, I'm very happy with Ryan as he treats me well and spoils me when he's home, but since I do the same thing for him, well, I guess you could say we spoil each other."

"Good, that's what's important," Liya said approvingly, "and not necessarily the sex of who you are married to. A person's happiness should be all that matters not whether they're in a same-sex relationship or not, like so many people believe. A lot of people would rather a female be married to a man no matter how miserable they are together, simply because a lot of people consider that natural while they consider same-sex relationships the opposite."

"Either that or not get married at all, no matter how sad, lonely and miserable that makes someone," Andrew said and Liya nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, a lot of people would rather you be miserable or lonely or both, then you get into a relationship with someone of your own sex," Liya said. "Centuries ago I could understand that point of view since procreating was pretty important back then in order to make sure that humans didn't die out, nowadays though, it doesn't really make any sense."

"I suppose it's kind of an inbuilt instinct," Andrew said looking thoughtful, "some people believe that having children, before your biological clock runs down is more important than anything else. Really I can understand it to a certain extent, as it is one of those biological imperatives and also we weren't created to have sex with our own kind, but with females or vice versa and that's just inbuilt into a lot of us. I have no trouble with people having their opinions, so long as they don't get in my face about it and keep it to themselves."

The two continued to chat something they didn't get to do very often anymore and soon it was several hours later and Liya knew she needed to get home.

"I'll see you sometime soon," Liya promised Andrew. "It's time for me to get home though, as I didn't realize how late it had gotten."

"Yeah, we kind of lost track of time," Andrew admitted sheepishly looking at his wristwatch. "I'll see you sometime soon I hope."

"You will," Liya promised with a smile kissing him, but on the cheek, before she rose to head out the front door so she could Apparate home.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Quints? Are you sure it's quintuplets?" Ryan asked Andrew in an astonished tone of voice.

"Yes, I went to my healer appointment while you were gone to Omaha with the team and Addison detected five heartbeats this time instead of four. Addison told me that is quite common for one baby to hide behind another and that sometimes, they are not detected until after they're born. Of course, it depends on how many you are carrying in the first place, but if it is more then triplets then it's quite common. There's only so much room in person's womb after all and even if mine is only temporary, that doesn't mean the same thing doesn't apply."

"So did Addison tell you whether it was another boy or another girl?" asked Ryan curiously now,

"He believes it's another boy, but it's hard to tell really and we'll just have to wait and see if he's right, but we'll know soon, as they will be born in just a month, since that's when I'm scheduled for my c-section."

"Well, it looks like we get five instead of the four we were expecting," Ryan said giving his mate a hug and a kiss, although that was difficult considering Andrew's stomach was in the way and was humongous.

"Yes, it does, and I'm really hoping it's another girl, since that would almost, but not quite even things out, but if we do have another son I won't be unhappy or anything," Andrew said.

"Well, we'll know soon, since it's only a month or so before you have your operation," said Ryan, "which I'm hoping to be there for this time unlike last time when I was out of town."

"I'd like you there too, but if you can't be there, because you're gone for a case I'll understand," Andrew said.

"It's so hard for me to leave you with you being pregnant," Ryan said, "even though I know you have plenty of help."

"It's that protective nature of yours," Andrew told Ryan with a slow easy grin. "Believe me, I know how protective wolf Shifters can be of their mates, especially when they're pregnant as I know Uncle Aaron hated leaving Spence, when he was pregnant all four times even if he had to and even if he knew that Spence would have plenty of help if he happened to go into labor while he was gone."

"Yes, that does have a lot to do with it," Ryan admitted. "What can I say, except that wolf Shifters are extremely protective of our mates and our pups."

"Believe me, I know it," Andrew said, even as he kissed Ryan on the lips. "I'll be fine and I have plenty of help just in case I do happen to go into labor before my scheduled c-section and you happen to be out of town for work."

"That doesn't prevent me from worrying," Ryan said, "although I won't worry as much since I do know you have reliable help to get you to St. Murphy's if you need it."

"Just imagine how Aaron felt leaving his mate by himself, even if he knew that he had plenty of help years ago now. Normally Aaron isn't the worrywart type, but when it comes to my brother he definitely is."

"You're right, Hotch usually isn't the worrywart type," Ryan said with a nod his green eyes sparkling as he talked with the man he adored, "but as has already been stated us wolf Shifters are very protective of our mates and also our pups and that is doubly, even triply true when it comes to their mate being pregnant. So are you going to get pregnant after this? I know we have discussed it getting pregnant one or two more times, but after this surprising news I wasn't sure if you still wanted to go ahead without the pregnancy."

"Well, I did tell you that I wanted to get pregnant at least once more, maybe twice but now a 4th time isn't option, at least for me. I'd like to do it once more after this in two, maybe three years and then that will be it, since I'll be close to 40 by then and I believe we will have all the kids we can handle by that time."

"That seems reasonable," Ryan said with a nod. "So one more pregnancy after this before you hit 40 and then that will be it."

"Yes, that will be it," Andrew agreed cuddling into his mate's side perfectly content to absorb Ryan's body heat, which was extremely high just like all Shifters.

"You know Addison believes that the two boys might be identical twin, because he believes they'll sharing same placenta," Andrew announced out of the blue. "He can't be absolutely sure since it's hard to tell with so many babies growing in my belly, but he's as sure as he can be considering the circumstances."

"Well, identical twins aren't exactly unprecedented in our family," Ryan pointed out, "although I will admit that they are pretty rare."

"Yes, well, scientist still don't know what causes identical twins while with fraternal there is scientific evidence to prove where they come from," Andrew said.

"It doesn't really matter that identical or not we'll still love them," Ryan said and Andrew nodded his head empathically against his mate's chest.

"We will, but if they do turn out to be identical, we're going to have to make sure to keep track of which is which by dressing them in different colored clothes, at least until they develop their own distinct personalities so it will be easier to tell them apart," Andrew said, "and hopefully, they won't take great delight in fooling us like some identical twins like to do."

"I'm a good enough profiler that I should be able to tell them apart, no matter how much they try to act like each other, but I suppose we'll see," Ryan said

The two of them simply cuddled there on the couch comfortable just laying together not saying anything at all, simply because they didn't need to understand what the other wanted or needed.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Five years later

Chance sighed as he sat on the park bench watching, as his now 5 year old quadruplets played. He was the only Reid that wasn't married and while all his brothers and sisters were in very happy and fulfilling relationships, he was rather lonely. He was rather introspective that he had used to be the most fun loving and prolific one of the family at least when it came to having sex with different woman had turned into someone who was lonely. He supposed that the rest of his family would have called him irresponsible and he could now admit that had certainly been true back five years ago. Nowadays though he was on the straight and narrow and while he had still had several relationships in the last five years he had always been careful to use protection, so that he fathered no more little Reids. He had promised his brother that he would be responsible, that he would stop having sex with every woman that crossed his path or that he would at least use protection if he did and that he would stop donating his jizz to a dozen different sperm banks like he had done in the past.

He could certainly understand where his brother was coming from because at last count he had fathered something like 85 children, including the quadruplets. Five years ago the count had been 65 children most of which had been created using the sperm he had donated to those banks and only 20 had been fathered naturally. Now though another 20 children had popped up in the last five years that were anywhere from 1 to 4 several in each city where he had donated sperm, because he had fathered no more children naturally. Chance now knew that he had been behaving very foolishly and it had taken those horrible nightmares to straighten him out, which had thankfully vanished completely once he had taken responsibility for his actions.

Chance shuddered, as he well remembered all of those horrible nightmares very clearly even after five years and he was in no hurry to experience anything like that ever again so he made sure to stay on the straight and narrow. Of course, there was no way he could be positive that his nightmares would return if he started to slip back into his old ways, but why take chances? Besides, he had his two sons and two daughters to think about now and he had no intention of ever being the same way he had been for so many years after graduating from his small magical school in Las Vegas.

However, it just seemed that every adult member of his family were so damn happy all the time and kept having more children, while he was the only one that wasn't in a permanent relationship, which he knew was largely his fault if he was being honest with himself that is. He loved his four children so much and he was grateful for Amelia's help, but still as much as he hated to admit it even to himself he was lonely, However, he had no idea what he could do about it because unlike every other one of his siblings he had not fallen in love. Sure, he'd had sex with probably hundreds of women in the years he had let his wild side take over, but that wasn't love, just lust and desire. Chance well remembered how he'd had sex with some woman practically every night and sometimes even doing the day even in public places. It had been a rare occasion when he wasn't in some hotel room with a woman or two that he had charmed into having sex with him or who had found him attractive and they had both mutually sated their lust for each other, before going on their merry ways. However, here he was at 37 years old and still one of the most attractive men out there and here he was the only one in his family that wasn't in a permanent relationship like his other three brothers and four sisters were. He had so many nieces and nephews that he had lost count sometime ago and had stopped trying to keep track of them, especially since he didn't see some of them very often. Chance was sure that Spencer was the only one that remembered all of his nephews and nieces names thanks to his eidetic memory, because he certainly couldn't remember since there were like 40 or 50 of them between his seven siblings plus his four and that didn't even include the ones where his sperm had been used thanks to him donating him jizz to those sperm banks or the ones he had fathered naturally before mending his ways.

Now though he couldn't afford to act like that anymore not since his children depended on him.

Chance watched his children play on the monkey bars, the slide and the rest of the playground equipment watching as they had fun.

Actually when most of the women he had dated in the last five years found out that he had quadruplets they went running in the other direction and he never saw them again. Chance had decided right after he had become a father that any woman he dated would have to accept his children and love them just as much as he did or the relationship was off and that had happened a lot in the last five years, as no woman was interested in being a mother to children who were not her own. If he ever did find a woman, that truly loved children whether they were hers or not Chance knew that she would probably be the one for him.

"So haven't I seen you here before?" came a female voice from right beside him and immediately Chance saw a shadow out of the corner of his eye and when he looked away from the playground where he was watching his children, he saw a very pretty woman who looked around his age. Chance immediately felt his pulse start to race as he looked into the woman's rather unusual purple eyes. The woman was tall, Chance judged. Probably about his height as he was 6'5', with curly black hair, a small nose, refined cheekbones firm chin and lips that just demanded to be kissed as they were nice and plump and inviting.

"Oh, sorry I haven't introduced myself," the woman's voice was soft with a southern drawl that told Chance she was probably from somewhere like Texas. "I'm Aubrey Foster."

"Chance Reid," Chance introduced himself shaking the lady's hand.

"Sorry, but you never did answer my question," Aubrey said her purple eyes twinkling with good humor.

"What question was that?" asked Chance distractedly as he searched the playground for his children and found them much to his relief they were still playing on the various pieces of playground equipment.

"Haven't I seen you here before?" Aubrey repeated patiently as she to watched children out on the playground just as Chance was doing.

"Oh," Chance said distractedly. "Probably, as I'm here at least three times a week. I bring my children out here to play for a couple of hours at least that often, although sometimes more. "

"So are you married?" Aubrey asked pretending to be only casually interested in the answer, but really wanting to know if this handsome man that looked around her age was available, or if his wife was somewhere else and just wasn't present at the moment.

Of course, Aubrey was well aware that you could have children without ever having been married or it was possible that he had been, but his wife had left him or passed away, like her husband had or he could even be divorced.

"No, I'm not married," Chance told her cordially not really thinking about his answers, as he was keeping his eyes on his children since he was well aware that young children had been kidnapped out of places like parks in the past, thanks to his brother who had told him all about it trying to warn him to keep his eyes open whenever he was at one with his children. You never expected your child or children to be kidnapped, but it had happened so why take chances?

"So which ones are yours?" asked Aubrey.

"The two boys with black hair and the two girls with brown over there by the monkey bars," Chance said pointing them out and Aubrey saw four of the cutest children she had seen in awhile. Really they were gorgeous. Their hair was curly, and they're skin slightly olive which told Aubrey that their mother had likely been of mediterranean decent or at least from that general corner of the world as there were a lot of different diverse people that had that olive skin tone.

"So two sets of twins?" asked Aubrey as she noticed that all four were around the same age which meant that they couldn't be more than a year or so apart.

"Actually they are two sets of twins, but they are also quadruplets," Chance told her. "They were all born within just a couple of minutes of each other. Their mother died shortly after their birth from an aneurysm and no I was never actually married to her since I knew that was going to be your question," Chance added finally looking at the woman who was sitting beside him also watching the playground. "I'm afraid I used to be very foolish and they are the result of a one night stand."

"All of us makes mistakes," Aubrey murmured as she watched the playground.

"So which one is yours?" asked Chance with a quirk of his lips since Aubrey had just asked him that question a couple of minutes ago.

"Actually there're three of them," Aubrey said. "The two girls, on the seesaw and the boy on the swings."

Chance looked and saw two adorable little girls with their mother's black hair only maybe a year apart from each other and a slightly older boy with brown hair lightly touched with red.

"So married?" Chance asked repeating the question that Aubrey had asked him earlier.

Aubrey's lips quirked in humor as she recognized the irony of what Chance had said.

"I was, but unfortunately, my husband died in a shooting. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and I'm just grateful that none of the children were with him since they probably would have been killed to if they had been," Aubrey answered looking a little sad, even though it had been more than five years.

"I'm sorry," Chance told her sincerely. "It's horrible what happened to your husband."

"I grieved for a long time," Aubrey admitted. "If it wasn't for my children and I'm not sure what I would have done without Harvey."

"It's horrible to lose someone you love," Chance said his tone genuinely sympathetic.

"You sound like to you know what you're talking about," Aubrey observed.

"I do on a certain level," Chance admitted. "Me and my siblings lost both our parents in less than a year. I was 12 at the time. Luckily, for us my oldest brother Spencer had just come of age and so he got guardianship of us."

"I'm so sorry," Aubrey said genuinely sympathetic just as Chance had been a minute ago.

"It was a long time ago," Chance said. "It's not that I don't still miss them every day just as I know my other siblings do, but it's been 25 years and so the grief is distant now and I don't think about them half as much as I used to like I did when it first happened."

"So how many siblings do you have?" Aubrey asked changing the subject.

Chance's mouth quirked as he answered knowing that the number of brothers and sisters he had surprised most people, especially since he wasn't a Shifter. "Seven," Chance answered simply.

Much to Chance's amusement Aubrey was indeed shocked, but then that happened a lot, so he should be used to how a lot of people reacted when he told them how many siblings he did have and it wasn't even that other families weren't just as large his just that most Normal families stopped at three children and sometimes four. Now if you were a Shifter, it would be different as their families tended to be much larger then a Normals for the most part.

Of course, Chance didn't say so, but although he wasn't a Shifter he and his family weren't exactly normal either since they had magic. Really the magic users could be considered like a third species because, although they were basically human they did have this extra ability, but instead they hid their society from Normals and Shifters and Chance couldn't really blame the magical community for that because he knew very well how most people would react if they found out, as he knew much more about human nature then he had a few years ago thanks to his oldest brother who had taken pain to educate him.

Sure some Normals or Shifters knew about magic, but only those who had married magic users, or those that had children that had the same ability and occasionally people that were as close as family like his brother's and uncle's teammates.

"So you have seven siblings?" Aubrey the surprise clear in her voice.

"Yep," Chance answered with a slow grin. "Three brothers and four sisters. The oldest Spencer was the one that took care of us after parents passed away and he was only 17 when that happened. Then I have twin sisters Leah and Liya, after that is my twin brother Andrew and myself, next is Natalie the only other single child in our family besides, my oldest brother, finally there are the two youngest Bronwyn and Hudson."

"Three sets of twins?" asked Aubrey astonishment clear in how voice and expression

Chance shrugged and said, "We're all fraternal not identical, and fraternal twins are much more common than the other kind. Twins run rather heavily in my family, all fraternal for the most part on the Potter side, which was my mother's maiden name before she married my father. The females in my family or at least those that actually have the Potter blood just seem to have the ability to have twins more often than most other people and we've always considered it a blessing because it allows us to have large families when we want them."

The two of them continued to talk as they watched the children play and finally Chance asked, "Would you like to go out on a date with me?"

"Sure why not," Aubrey immediately agreed. The reason she had spoken to Chance at all was because she had been watching him for the last several weeks and knew that he came to the park with his children, although she hadn't known, which ones were his, since she had always been at a distance and she had seen how he treated them with love and kindness. After that she had wanted to meet him and had finally gotten up the courage to approach him.

"Good," Chance said pleased. "What about tonight?"

"I'm not sure I can get a babysitter on such short notice," Aubrey said.

"So just bring them to my place as I have a nanny for my four," Chance said, "and Amelia won't mind looking after three more for a few hours since she genuinely loves children. She's been a godsend and there's no way I would have been able to look after four infants all by myself, and even now that they're five years old they are still a handful."

"Alright," Aubrey decided. "We had better introduce our children to each other first and make sure they can get along."

"Yes, young children need a chance to get used to someone new," Chance said, "as a lot of them don't take too a new person until they have a chance to get to know them, but then some do. You know what's ironic though?"

"What's that?" asked Aubrey

"Well, I was just sitting here feeling sorry for myself because I've had quite a few dates over the last five years and as soon as a woman I'm dating knows I have four small children they go running off. I have found that a lot of women are very shallow and not interested in getting to know somebody else's children and definitely not being a mother to them. I decided that when the quadruplets came into my life I would never get seriously involved with anyone that they didn't like and so far as soon as someone I'm dating meets them they tell me that our relationship is over and they leave. It's not like I was in love with any of them, but then I didn't have time to really develop any feelings for them as most of my relationships for the last few years could be measured in just a few weeks at most."

"Sounds like you just haven't found the right woman yet," Aubrey suggested. "As much as I hate to admit it a lot of women are very shallow and uninterested in serious relationships at all. Some women have the depth of a very shallow puddle of water."

Chance laughed at that and said, "That is so true. I must've dated several dozen bimbos in the last few years. They were intelligent enough, but they had no depth to them and I'm never going to marry someone that doesn't have any staying power or is uninterested in being a mother to my children. I don't need someone who resents or hates them because another woman gave birth to them."

"I don't blame you a bit for that," agreed Aubrey immediately. "I would do the same if I was dating some man that didn't care about my children and definitely didn't want anything to do with them. Men can be just as shallow as women can be and most of them aren't interested in raising some other woman's children. When you do find someone like that, you need to hold on tight."

"Yes, I completely agree," Chance said with a nod. "Men can be extremely shallow sometimes and very full of themselves."

The two of them continued to chat for a few minutes but finally they agreed to meet for a date at 7 o'clock at Chance's house and exchanged phone numbers and addresses.

"If you have any trouble finding my place just call me and I can direct you to it," Chance said with a smile.

"I shouldn't have any trouble," Aubrey promised him, "but if I do I'll make sure I call you."

The two of them parted ways then both glad that they had met each other.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~


	24. Chapter 24

Two months later

Chance smiled as he got dressed for his date with Aubrey.

He had never believed it would happen, but he knew he was falling in love.

His only problem however, was he knew he was going to have to be totally honest with Aubrey about his rather sordid past, sometime in the very near future, as he didn't want his heart anymore invested in their relationship until he knew if she was going to accept what he had been like before his brother had straightened him out.

The one good thing though was that all his siblings had met her and liked her immediately, so Chance know that he had made a good choice because his siblings would have told him if they didn't approve of her. Another good thing was that Aubrey genuinely loved children and got on well with all the young ones in his family including the three that he had technically fathered that were being raised by his twin brother and his mate Ryan. Aubrey also got on well with his four just as he did with her three and all seven children seemed to genuinely like each other and played together often

Luckily, for him Aubrey had no idea that that the three children that Andrew and Ryan were raising were technically his, for they looked enough like Andrew that they could very well be his brother's. The three children looking like his twin brother wasn't really surprising considering that the two of them looked exactly alike except for their eye color, but in this case it was a good thing so that Aubrey wasn't suspicious as to their origins.

Chance would learn soon enough whether the woman he was falling in love with would accept the fact that he had used to be a walking, talking scandal and had technically fathered multiple children if you counted the ones where just his sperm had been used.

Chance truly hoped that Aubrey accepted the fact that he had been an idiot for a lot of years until his oldest brother had straightened out, although having his two sons and two daughters put into his care had cemented that change, which Chance had figured out years ago was why Spencer had done it in the first place. Spencer had known that if he had children to look after he would never slip back into his old partying and sleeping with multiple women ways and he had been right about that.

Chance found himself dreaming about actually having a few more children with Aubrey, but knew that he would have to be completely honest with her before that could occur or before he asked her to marry him. Chance had never believed for a second that he would ever find a woman that he would actually want to settle down with, but now that he had he wouldn't give her up easily.

"Daddy," came the voice of his five year old daughter Bernadette or Bernie for short.

"Yes, honey," Chance said.

"Are you and Aubrey going to get married?" asked Bernie.

That innocent question from his five-year-old daughter nearly had a Chance laughing, especially since he had just been thinking the same thing, but he'd managed to contain his mirth, so that his daughter wouldn't get the wrong idea.

"That remains to be seen, sweetheart," Chance told his daughter gently. "The two of us haven't been dating very long, so it will be awhile before I know if I love her enough to marry her or if she loves me enough to accept."

Bernadette seemed to consider this quite seriously then said, "You do love her," Bernie told her father with absolute certainty in her tone. "The two of you just have to decide if you are going to allow yourselves to fall in love again and get over your loses or if you want to continue to be lonely."

Chance stared at his daughter shock in his expression and wondered absently when she had begin to grow up on him.

"Are you 5 or 20?" Chance asked his daughter.

"I'm only five daddy," Bernie told him giggling.

"Are you sure about that?" asked Chance, as he pretended to see if his daughter was actually older then she appeared

"Of course, I'm sure, daddy," Bernie said giggling again sounding more like a little girl once more instead of an adult disguised as one.

"Why don't you go find your siblings? I need to keep getting ready for my date."  
"I would like to have Alaida and Estelle as sisters and Travis as a brother," Bernie said more seriously.

"And what do your brothers and sister think of having Alaida, Estelle and Travis as siblings?" asked Chance curiously.

"They really like them and would be happy to have them, as their brother and sisters," Bernie informed her father.

Chance stared at his daughter for a moment and wondered how a five-year-old had gotten to the root of the problem that he had been struggling with and she was only five years old. Out if the mouth of babes...

"I need to finish getting ready for my date," Chance told his daughter gently and Bernie seemed to understand for she nodded and disappeared out the door to go find her brothers and sister

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"So how is your relationship with Aubrey going?" Spencer asked his brother as the two of them shopped for birthday presents for Chance's quads together.

This was one of the rare days that Spencer wasn't working and he could've been spending time with Aaron, but he tried to spend time with his siblings and their families to. Spencer knew logically that, even though he would like to spend more time with his various nieces and nephews there were so many of them that wasn't really possible.

"It's going great," Chance promised him.

"So are you thinking about proposing?" asked Spencer.

Chance laughed and asked, "If I was?"

"Then I would tell you should go ahead and do it because I think both of you are perfect for each other. The whole family loves her and her kids already and are really hoping that you'll get off your ass and actually marry the lady before she finds someone else," Spencer told his brother bluntly. "If you mess up your relationship, the first serious one you've had in your whole life, well then you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

"Don't you think I don't know that," Chance cried letting his frustration with the whole situation show. "Of course, I want to marry her, but you know why I've been putting off asking her."

"She'll accept how you were before," Spencer said softly looking at Chance. "Yes, I agree that you need to tell her before your relationship goes any farther and definitely before you propose, but Aubrey is a special lady Chance and if you let her slip through your fingers you will regret it for the rest of your life as I doubt very much that you'll ever find someone like her again."

"Not only do I have to tell her about my rather sordid past I also have to get her to accept that other thing," Chance said and Spencer knew his brother was the referring to magic.

"She'll accept both things," Spencer told his brother confidently. "I'm not saying that she won't need time to get over the shock, but after she does I won't be surprised if she immediately accepts your proposal and in fact I'm sure she will because she loves you."

"Are you really sure about that?" Chance asked his brother beginning to let himself hope that Aubrey wouldn't just leave once she learned of his rather sordid past and also about the magic thing.

"99% sure," Spencer said, "but there's always that one percent room for doubt as almost nothing is a completely sure thing."

"Thanks, big brother, that really makes me feel better," Chance told Spencer sincerely.

"You're welcome," Spencer told him. "Now I suggest you get off your butt and tell Aubrey what you need to and then propose to her as I really want her and her three adorable children as part of our family. Besides, I also want to see you happy and that you haven't been, not really, not ever since you were a teenager, although you might have convinced yourself that you were happy partying and whoring your life away, but that doesn't make it true."

"You're right I wasn't very happy and haven't been since I was about 18," Chance admitted with a heavy sigh.

"You can't keep going on like this is since you know magical people can live up to 500 years," Spencer told his brother quietly. "You have most of your life in front of you and I don't want to see you miserable or at least lonely for centuries to come, which is why I know you need to go ahead and tell Aubrey about your past and then ask her to marry you."

"I know. You aren't the first one that has told me that and I'm sure you won't be the last either," Chance told his brother.

"Well, you ought to take the others advice," Spencer told Chance. "You need to put aside your fear of telling that wonderful lady about what you used to be like you just go ahead and get it over with. The sooner you do, the sooner the two of you can get on with your lives—together. I have absolutely no doubt at all that the two of you will be happy together for many years and have a few children along the way, legitimate ones that is."

"I wish I had your confidence," Chance sighed.

"Aubrey is an intelligent lady, she'll see that you've changed from what you described yourself to be and if she doesn't then she's not the woman I believe her to be," Spencer told his brother not adding that he considered the likelihood of that happening to be nil or at least no more than one or two percent.

"I know I should just go ahead and do it. Tell Aubrey all about my former partying ways and hope that she sees I've changed before I do lose her like you suggested," Chance admitted. "I love Aubrey a lot and I love her kids to and it helps that my four adore Aubrey and her three kids as I swore to myself years ago that I would never marry a woman that didn't love my children or that my children didn't love in return, since young children are often better judges of character then adults."

"Yes, that's true," Spencer agreed, "and you were definitely very smart to not try to marry any woman that your children didn't like and vice versa of course. Many parents don't listen to their children or pay attention how the kids don't like the person that they are dating and those marriages usually end in tragedies of one sort or another."

"Now that's something I've never been accused of being before and that's smart," Chance wisecracked.

Spencer rolled his eyes at his brother and told him affectionately, "You've always been intelligent, you just didn't exercise that intelligence until fairly recently."

"Yeah, I let my wild side get out of control," Chance admitted softly. "In any case, Aubrey makes me happier than I've been in three or four years."

"You were lonely," Spencer said and Chance nodded.

"That's certainly understandable because having children or other family is one thing, but having someone as a life partner is quite another," Spencer said.

"Well, I'm the only one in the family that seems to have been having trouble finding that one special person to share my life with," Chance said, "Because here I am 38 years old and I'm the only one of the family that isn't married and happy with their life. I mean I love and adore my four children you know that…"

"But that isn't enough for you to feel happy and fulfilled," Spencer suggested and Chance nodded.

"Believe me, I felt the same way you did back before I met Aaron, but now I wouldn't change a thing if it would mean I wouldn't meet him and be as happy as I've been for the last 26 years. Sometimes it just takes time to find someone that truly accept you for who you are and that you're extremely compatible with, whether that be male or female," Spencer told his brother philosophically. "Just look at Leah she was 33 years old before she met Adnan and she had been, well, not exactly mourning her breakup with Conrad, but certainly not getting over him like she should have long before she did."

"All right I admit that she's the only other one in the family that had trouble finding love," Chance agreed having forgotten about his sister. "All the others in the family though found their partners and have been married for years or at least mated, which amounts to the same thing really."

"Some people would disagree, but I understand what you mean," Spencer said. "So I hope you're planning on telling Aubrey your past soon."

"Yeah, I suppose I had better get on with it," Chance said unenthusiastically feeling his doubts creep in that Aubrey would accept what he had to tell her and still want to be with him when she did find out.

"Don't start having doubts now," Spencer told his brother firmly. "I know some doubts are only natural and I can't really blame you for them since most people would not accept what you told them, but don't let them prevent you from actually telling Aubrey about your past. If you put off telling her for too long because you won't propose until you do you'll lose her, because she'll believe that you don't love her as much as I know she does you."

"Alright, you're right," Chance agreed knowing when it was a very strong possibility if he didn't get off his ass and actually propose to the lady that he had come to love deeply in less then six months.

Spencer studied his brother and then nodded. "Good, I expect to hear about your engagement within the next couple of months at most."

"I can't promise you will," Chance told his brother softly, "but I will definitely try my best, because you're right I do love her and I do want to marry her and also have a few legitimate children by her."

"We'll see," Spencer said noncommittally, knowing that they would likely be celebrating Chance's and Aubrey's engagement sometime in the next couple of months, although he couldn't really blame his brother for doubting that would actually happen considering.

The two of them continued to shop for birthday presents and talk softly while they did both looking forward to celebrating the quads birthday.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"So you believe Chance is going to propose to Aubrey sometime in the next few weeks?" Hotch asked his mate.

"If he can ever get up his courage too," Spencer said, "and only after he tells her about his rather sordid past, since Aubrey would have every right to be furious at him if he doesn't give her full disclosure before they get married, because those kind of things have a way of popping up somewhere down the line, when you are least expecting them to."

"He'll also have to tell her about the fact that he's a wizard," Hotch said and Spencer nodded.

"Yes, but I believe that will be the least shocking of the news. In any case, I expect to hear about their engagement any day now."

"I expect to hear about their marriage not just their engagement," Hotch him, "Chance isn't the type to want a big wedding ceremony with a lot of people in attendance and Aubrey's already been married once so I can't see her wanting to go through it again either."

"You're right," Spencer finally agreed after thinking about it for several silent minutes. "I can see her and Chance using the Floo to go to Las Vegas and get married there and I'm surprised I didn't think about that possibility, although I'm sure I would have eventually, you just beat me to it."

"Yes, you would have once you had a couple of days to think about it," Hotch said, "but I knew that if Chance ever does get around to asking Aubrey to marry him that it is unlikely either of them will want a big ceremony and so I figure they'll wed sometime soon and maybe have a reception after they get back."

"Yeah, they'll probably sneak off to Vegas get married and spend a few days up there in the honeymoon suite at some hotel and I wouldn't be surprised if by the time they get back, Aubrey's pregnant since she's not getting any younger."

"She's several years younger than Chance though," Hotch pointed out and Spencer nodded, "and women have children in their 30s and 40s all the time nowadays."

"Still, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if she comes back from their honeymoon pregnant, as I don't see either one of them wanting to wait 3 or 4 years to have children, when Aubrey's already 34."

"Well, hopefully, that talk you had with him, will bear some fruit sometime in the next several weeks," Hotch said, "as I for one really like Aubrey as I think she's a good match for your brother."

"Everybody who has met Aubrey likes her," Spencer said, "including me. In fact I told Chance that I wanted him to go ahead and propose already, because I wanted her and her three adorable children as part of the family."

"Yes, her children are adorable," Hotch immediately agreed, "so you will get no argument from me on that score."

The two of them fell silent and simply cuddled together for awhile enjoying just being together and the connection they shared.

"I really hope Chance doesn't botch it," Spencer said after awhile.

"He won't, because he loves Aubrey and he'll be miserable for the rest of his life if he does happen to mess it up and so he won't do that," Hotch said with certainty. "We both need to think positive as Rossi is always telling me I need to do. Chance won't mess up probably his only chance at happiness, since you told me years ago that Reids usually fall once and fall hard and your brother has definitely fallen for the beautiful Aubrey Foster in the worst way, which is a good as far as I'm concerned since having a solid loving relationship will keep your brother from slipping back into his old ways just as the children have. Chance could still very easily go back to his partying and whoring ways once the children are grown you know, but so long as Aubrey agrees to marry him and is alive I don't see that happening."

"I don't believe that Chance would actually do that," Spencer told Hotch who wasn't so sure. "I believe his change is a permanent one unless something really drastic happens. Chance gave me his word and normally Reids keep their words no matter what. Besides, if he had I just would've required him to give me his wizard's oath and he wouldn't have dared break it since he would've lost his magic by doing so, which would have essentially turned him into squib and even though our family does a lot of things just like normal muggles, losing your magic that you've had all your life, well...it would be like losing an arm or a leg would be for some muggle or losing the ability to shift shape for a Shifter, something that is essential to who they are."

"So it would destroy most witches and wizards to lose their magic?" asked Hotch and Spencer nodded vigorously.

"Not literally, but emotionally and sometimes mentally certainly," Spencer said. "Magic is a gift that a lot of witches and wizards take for granted, but it can be lost if say someone magical committed a very serious crime and it is taken from them by the wizarding courts. Now while this rarely happens for first time offenders, it does if they keep say killing people by using it. By using magic to commit such an atrocity the courts often decide that those witches or wizards are a lost cause and bind that magic away from them. To most magical people this is a fate worse then death and it often leads to the suicide of the individual."

"From my point of view, even though I'm not magical I think that's a just punishment if someone with magic killed say three or four different people using it and they refuse to stop doing it, repent and change then I think binding their ability would be the right thing to do," Hotch said. "I'm sure that most magical people wouldn't agree with me, but if you commit a crime there has to be some punishment that makes you learn your lesson and if that means binding a witch's or wizard's magic away from them so that they can't access it then so be it. It is a just punishment in some cases in my opinion depending on the crime and whether or not they are a repeat offender."

"Luckily, it is the punishment that is rarely used as most witches and wizards aren't so depraved to do something that deserves having their magic bound," Spencer said. "That is a punishment that is only used when going to prison and then getting out when a magical person's time is served doesn't have any effect and they go back to their old ways, so as I said its not used on first time offenders, or even on second time offenders. It's only used when the witch or wizard in question doesn't learn their lesson and keeps doing the same thing like killing or something else like raping someone that is just as serious that this punishment is used and only for very serious crimes like the two I just mentioned and also treason."

"Well, I can see why the wizarding courts wouldn't want to use this punishment unless they absolutely had to. Since if it's anything like a Shifter losing their ability to shift shape, well, I can certainly understand not wanting to enact that punishment very often," Hotch said shuddering at the thought of losing his wolf shape. A Shifter's ability to shift into their animal shape was essential to who they were and to lose that ability, no matter the reason... well it was like a magical person having their magic bound and he wouldn't blame the witch or wizard for committing suicide afterwards, since the ability to do magic was something that you had from the time you were born and therefore, it was an essential part of who a person was. Just as a Shifter had the ability to shift shape from the time they were about two years old and it was essential for them to be able to do so to maintain their health and happiness, so Shifters and magical people really weren't so different in that respect.

"Has a Shifter ever lost ability to shift shape?" asked Spencer curiously after feeling his mate shudder when that possibility was mentioned.

"It has been known to happen in the past," Hotch admitted, "although not for centuries at least here in America. The gods or the fates or whatever you want to call them take a very dim view of someone who uses their form to kill, unless it is a defense of your life or somebody else's. To kill an animal for food is one thing, but to kill a human or another Shifter just because you enjoy killing is quite another. Stories have been passed down for centuries about Shifters who have lost the ability to turn into their animal forms because they kill for pleasure and not because they were defending themselves or someone else. For a Shifter to lose their ability to shift is a fate worse then death, although their children will still have the ability, just the one who committed the crime won't."

"So it's just like a wizard or witch losing their magic," Spencer summarized.

"Yes, it's basically the same thing even if the punishments are different because magical people are different from Shifters and vice versa. That feeling of losing an essential part of yourself is likely the same though," Hotch said.

"Yes, I would say so," Spencer agreed.

The two men fell silent again and just lay there cuddle together just enjoying each other's body heat and being together.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Three weeks later

"So what is it you wanted to tell me?" asked Aubrey as she and Chance finished a fine meal.

"Why don't we go sit in the den," Chance suggested. "This is going to take some time."

"Alright," Aubrey said knowing that whatever Chance had to tell her, probably wasn't good if Chance's nervousness was anything to go by.

The two of them sat down in the den with glasses of wine and Chance took a deep breath. "First I want to tell you that I've come to love you and I never believed myself the type to actually fall in love. My brother Spencer kept telling me that I just hadn't met the right person yet and that I just needed to give it time, but as one by one my siblings found somebody to love and I didn't I stopped believing that I ever would. However, once I met you that all started to change very rapidly and even though it's taken me almost 38 years, I finally have found what my siblings have."

Aubrey listened as Chance talked and thought about how she had met this tall dark haired stranger with four adorable children. She had known that there were things in Chance's past that he didn't like to talk about and so she hadn't pressed him, because she hadn't wanted to ruin the chance of the two of them actually getting to know each other. She had never believed that she would have fallen in love again not after her husband Harvey had been shot, only because he had been at the wrong place at the wrong time, but she had decided to take a chance on Chance as ironic as that was. It was true that she hadn't known his name or whether he was married or not, but since she had been observing him for several weeks and had never seen a woman or even another man in sight she had decided to risk it and if it turned out that he was married she would bow out gracefully. She had figured that the children that he came to the park with were either his or that they were his nieces and nephews. Of course, if those children really were his that still left the possibility that he might be married, but luckily, it had turned out he wasn't and never had been.

"However, there are certain things in my past, that I'm not proud of now and I'm hoping that once I tell you that won't send you running away from me forever since not only would that break my heart it would break my children's hearts to since they love you nearly as much as I do," Chance continued.

"Whatever you have to tell me can't be that bad," Aubrey said confidently and Chance shook his head at her.

"We'll see if you still say that once I tell you," Chance told her not smiling and in fact he looked rather grim.

"First I want to tell you something that I don't think it's bad at all about me that amounts to a family secret, but if I do then I really hope, that means we'll make our relationship permanent. After that though, I'll tell you exactly how sordid my past really is."

Aubrey caught her breath when Chance and said that he wanted to make their relationship permanent, but only if she accepted what he had to tell her.

Aubrey didn't speak just looked at Chance expectantly and he sighed and then stood in front of her taking out what looked like a wooden stick with a grip at one end. The stick was polished and smooth and looked like it had been used a lot as the grip was worn from years of use.

"Aubrey, I am a wizard, a real wizard," Chance announced and then said, "Orchideous!"

Red roses appeared at the tip of his wand, Chance grabbed them and handed them to the lady he had come to love.

"A parlor trick," Aubrey told him.

Chance sighed again, but then pointed his wand at the coffee table that was in front of where Aubrey was sitting and muttered something that the woman sitting on the couch didn't quite catch.

Suddenly the coffee table transformed into a very large panther that growled at her and looked as if it would leap upon her and tear her to shreds at any second when it was suddenly a coffee table again. Aubrey for her part had shrieked and shrunk back in fear, unable to run away since the panther was blocking the way.

"I'm truly sorry for scaring you like that," Chance told Aubrey taking her into his arms hugging her in reassurance and kissing her cheek once he had turned the coffee table back to normal, "but I knew I needed something dramatic something that no stage magician would be able to do to get you to believe."

"Your coffee table suddenly turning into a large black panther and scaring me half to death is a very effective way to getting me to believe that this magic you mentioned was real," Aubrey said, as she finally stopped shaking.

"If you can't accept that I have magic and that my four children have magic and that any child we have will likely have it as well..." Chance left to hanging.

"Then you'll breakup with me," Aubrey finished Chance's sentence.

"I won't want to," Chance told her grimly, "but a lot of people who find out magic is real because a wizard or witch falls in love with them, well, some people won't accept it even after they're married and they treat their wife or husband or their children deplorably considering them spawns of the devil or some such nonsense. Some magical people even wait until after they've tied the knot to tell their spouse that they're little different then most other people. Some muggles, that just means somebody without magic like yourself, accept it much easier than others do," Chance explained shrugging, as if to say that was just how it was.

"So if you're a wizard," Aubrey said slowly, "that means your whole family all witches and wizards to."

"All seven of my siblings certainly," Chance agreed, "Most, if not all the children are too although some are to young to have displayed any magic, but most of my siblings spouses, no they don't have magic, with the exception of Leah's and Bronwyn's husbands and Hudson's wife. Ryan my twin brother's mate is not magical, although witches and wizards do run in his family and a lot of his siblings got it, but he didn't. Spencer's mate Aaron, is a Shifter, but no witches and wizards run in his family that he is aware of and the same is true for the rest of my siblings that I haven't mentioned yet. Not every person that is magical falls in love with another magical person and if witches and wizards had stuck to their own kind we would have died out because really there are not too many of us compared to Normals or Shifters. If you want the exact number as to how big the magical population really is around the world you'll have to ask my brother, because I don't really know and all I do know is that we are a small minority."

Chance waved his wand again and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Pointing the wand at the wine glass it lifted in the air and hovered there for a second before flying towards him where Chance stopped it with another wave of his wand. The wine glass hovered in front of him and Chance pointed his wand over the side and muttered something else and much to Aubrey's amazement a fine stream of red wine came out of the tip and filled the glass quickly and it was only seconds later that Chance just gestured at the glass and it flew over to hover in front of her.

"Wow! That's pretty amazing!" Aubrey admitted plucking the glass out of the air and taking a sip and thought it was good wine.

"Thank you, but what I've showed you is really just parlor tricks as magic can do so much more. I know quite a few spells, but if I know a lot of spells my brother Spence knows probably triple what I do and from many different cultures, but then he's always reading and researching, so that isn't really so surprising. Most witches and wizards don't bother to learn any new spells once they graduate from whatever magical school they attended, but then some do, although it's very few. Some like to discover lost spells that haven't been used in decades or centuries and read dusty old books to discover the magic that has long since been forgotten. Every culture has its own spells usually incanted in the language of that country. I can tell you more about that later, but I do have something else to tell you tonight and it's not as good as what I just revealed."

"You call revealing that magic is real, good?" asked Aubrey. "Tell that to my heart, which is still beating at least three times as fast as normal. I don't think I have ever been that scared as when that panther growled and swished his tail at me, looking for all the world like he was going to pounce on me at any moment and rip me to shreds."

"I'm sorry," Chance apologized again, "but I wasn't sure you'd believe it was anything, but parlor tricks, unless I did something fairly impressive."

"Well, you succeeded," Aubrey said, "as there's no way I know of to transform your coffee table into a panther who looked ready to eat me, normally. No mirrors or trapdoors would work, so if it can't be anything except real magic. When you did the flowers well a magician's wand can do that, although I will admit that the flowers that pop out the end of one of those fake wands are usually not real like you gave to me. Also there was no way that you could have made that wine glass float off the table like that unless there were wires attached and since I was just drinking out of it I know that there were none present and the way you filled it back up with just a muttered word, was also pretty impressive and I don't see anyway that could have been faked."

"Well, my brother did warn me that you were a very intelligent woman and that you would accept that magic was indeed real once I had given you a demonstration," Chance said with a wry twist of his lips, but with humor sparkling in his blue eyes. "It looks like my brother was right yet again, but then he is so rarely wrong it's hard to remember the last time he actually was."

"Which brother was that?" asked Aubrey.

"Spencer, of course," Chance told her with a small smile. "If he wasn't so nice, even his own family wouldn't be able to stand him, because he so knowledgeable about so many things, that he often makes the rest of us feel like we're not really all that intelligent, even if he doesn't try to make us feel that way. I suppose that we're all aware of our own inadequacies, when it comes to knowledge about hundreds, even thousands of subjects, but then again Spencer is the only one in the family that reads fast, much faster than the average adult, remembers everything and likes to research different subjects, so is it any wonder that he knows so much more than anybody else?"

"I'm sure that it helps him with his job with the BAU," Aubrey suggested.

"I'm sure it does to," Chance agreed, "but even before he joined the FBI, he still knew more then any 10 people put together, and now it's probably more than any 20 people put together, since he's a lot older now and he never stops learning new things. He studies things that he thinks might be useful on a case, stuff that seems like useless trivia to most people until you need it."

"So you said you had a second thing to reveal to me today," Aubrey hinted and Chance nodded not looking at all happy with what he was about to reveal so Aubrey knew it couldn't be good news.

"As I told you earlier I have a rather sordid past," Chance began. "Out of all my siblings I'm the only one that really has a wild side, and it's only been in the last five years that I stopped letting that side of me take over."

"You did a lot of partying, didn't you?" asked Aubrey rhetorically

"I never did drugs if that's what you mean, but I did do a lot of drinking," Chance explained. "I was going down a bad road, as I was just so happy to be done with my qualifying tests at the end of my seventh year of schooling that I'm afraid that I just let my wild side takeover for many years."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Aubrey said, "everybody goes through a rebellious period or at least most people do."

"There's more," Chance said looking uncomfortable. "I drank a lot that's true, but I also had a lot of sex with various woman and if that wasn't bad enough I didn't think I needed to use protection since so many of those women are on the pill, so I fathered 24 children including the four that I'm raising. My brother Spencer told me that I was lucky that I hadn't contracted some disease that couldn't be cured, even in the magical world, like AIDS."

"24 children?" Aubrey asked blinking rapidly trying to take it all in.

"Yes, 24 but those are the only ones that fathered naturally," Chance said.

"What do you mean naturally?" asked Aubrey immediately.

"Just that I thought it was a good idea to donate sperm to various sperm banks in different cities, and at last count I had something like 85 sons and daughters including the four I'm raising, as apparently using my sperm is quite popular."

"85 children?" Aubrey sputtered. "85?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid so," Chance said hanging his head shame. "I donated to various sperm banks multiple times, which is why children are still being born with my DNA even five years after I quit doing that. Spencer is keeping track of them and most of them are being raised in loving homes, so he's not interfering in their upbringing. He told all his siblings that he didn't want them interfering either and as he is the oldest he has that authority. About a quarter of those are twins, since they do run in my family or more likely some females just decided to have two embryos implanted instead of one. Spencer really gave it to me for being so stupid, and I don't blame him in the least, because as I'm sure you know by now my brother is usually pretty even-tempered, but he does have one, although it takes a lot to make him lose it."

"How does your brother keep track of them since those sperm banks are not likely to give out information like that as it is supposed to be anonymous," Aubrey asked.

"He has a family tree book, that self updates that he borrowed from a distant relative over in England," Chance explained. "He managed to figure out how to make a copy of it, one that self updates just like the original and got that one back to his very distant cousin Harry Potter. The book though only give names date of birth, parent's names, you know basic information but not addresses, so he hired a private detective to track them down, to make sure they were being taken care of and loved, since they are his nieces and nephews. Potters always support and love their family and since all of us do have Potter blood through our mother, he feels it is his responsibility."

"And what does he do about the ones that have been mistreated?" asked Aubrey.

"There have been a few of those," Chance admitted looking ashamed again, "My brother got them out of the situation, one time by paying the mother off, and another time by one of the family adopting them, as one of them was in an orphanage."

"Why did he have to pay the mother off?" asked Aubrey knowing that Spencer was an intelligent sensible individual and he never would've done it if he had believed it hadn't been necessary to do so.

Chance told her exactly how his son and daughter Cooper and Ceridwen had been treated by their mother Lara Johnson.

"There mother did that to them?" Aubrey cried in rage looking like she wanted to go punch something.

"She did and the abuse was extreme," Chance said grimly. "They hadn't been fed properly, I was actually surprised, that they were even still alive considering that they'd barely had their diapers changed and they definitely weren't allowed out of their playpen or room very often. If Spencer hadn't rescued them when he had there would've been nothing we could've done for them, but luckily, they were still young enough that they could be potty trained, they could be taught to walk and talk. Luckily, it is unlikely that they'll remember being so mistreated now that they're in a much happier home."

"Which member of the family are they living with?" asked Aubrey curiously.

"My twin brother Andrew," Chance answered her immediately. "I know you met Andrew and his mate, but you haven't really had much contact with him, as you have with my oldest brother and his mate. Andrew is really the one that looks most like me which is understandable considering we are twins and so my twin son and daughter will grow up believing that he is their father and that is fine with me. Andrew is also responsible for taking care of Fenwick or Fen for short. To me Andrew is their father, even if technically my sperm created them and if I have my way they'll never know the truth. They really do look like Andrew right down to his golden brown eyes, so unless somebody tells them differently they'll always think that he's their father."

"Why didn't Spencer just call child protective services?" asked Aubrey curiously. "I mean I know they're overworked and underpaid, but if the abuse was so extreme, as to be noticeable then they would have removed the twins from that home and the mother would have ended up in jail."

"Believe me, Spencer thought about it," Chance said, "but he felt that it wouldn't be a good idea to drag the twins through a long court battle so that he or one of his siblings got custody of them. Even if I had signed over permission for them to be raised by say my twin, there still would have been a court hearing involved and Spencer felt that Cooper and Ceridwen had been through enough trauma that they didn't need anymore. I admit I would've preferred to see Lara Johnson imprisoned myself, for what she did and not just because they're my son and daughter, but because it's just so wrong to mistreat any child that way. However, I think that Spencer made the right decision in the end even if paying that woman a lot of money sticks in my throat."

"In mine to," Aubrey agreed wholeheartedly.

Chance and Aubrey continued to talk long into the night until finally the two of them went to bed, and Chance thought how lucky he was that Aubrey hadn't left him to never return after all she had learned about his past. He needed to give her the time to absorb all she had learned, but hopefully, he could propose sometime in the next week or two and also hopefully, she would accept as he knew now that he would never be truly happy again without her.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Aubrey, will you marry me?" Chance asked the beautiful woman sitting in front of him, holding a ring box with the beautiful emerald ring, which had come from a family vault instead of him having to purchase one.

The two of them had had a nice dinner together and then the two of them had come back to Chance's house for after dinner drinks.

Chance had it all planned out as it had been nearly 3 weeks after Aubrey had been told about his rather sordid past and that he was a wizard. Chance had wanted to give Aubrey time to really absorb the news before he had actually proposed, but since she hadn't gone running away from him he knew it was time.

"Yes! Yes!" Aubrey exclaimed getting up from where she was sitting throwing her arms around her new fiancé's nick and kissing him very passionately on the lips.

Once they had broken apart, Chance removed the ring from the box and slipped it onto her finger, where it shrunk to fit immediately, Aubrey not noticing.

"It's beautiful," Aubrey said gazing at the ring, which was at least a three carat emerald, "but Chance you shouldn't have, its way too much."

"Don't worry," Chance told her calmly, "it didn't cost me a cent. It's an old family ring, and the Potters have numerous ones in their family vault a Gringotts Bank. A lot of times when somebody in the family dies their rings are removed and put into the family vault to be used by the next generation. There are quite a few different rings in the family vault and I chose this one."

"It's gorgeous," Aubrey said hugging and kissing Chance again.

"I'm glad you like it," Chance said.

"I love it," Aubrey assured him.

"So when do you want to get married? And what kind of wedding do you want? We can do the whole big family wedding if you like or quietly elope somewhere and tell the family afterwards," Chance said.

"Well, I for one, don't need a big wedding since I had one when I married Harvey with all the family in attendance, so I say quietly eloping somewhere is a good idea just so long as that's what you want."

"That's fine with me," Chance promised her kissing the side of her head. "We can elope in Vegas, which is actually where me and my family were born until we moved to Virginia, back when I was 12 after parents had passed away."

"That sounds good," Aubrey agreed. "What are we going to do about the children though? We can't leave them by themselves as they are far too young."

"We'll leave them with Amelia as we will only be gone for a few hours," Chance answered.

"What do you just a few hours as it will take us longer to fly up there and back," Aubrey said.

"You're forgetting, wizard," Chance said with humor lacing his tone, "We have other ways of traveling that can be used by Muggles as well and we could be there in just a few seconds. Then all we have to do is locate a wedding chapel, have two witnesses and that'll be it."

"How are we going to get there just a few seconds?" Aubrey asked.

"The Floo network." And then Chance explained exactly what that was.

"So you throw this green powder onto a roaring fire and then the flames turn green and once they do I just have to shout out my destination and step into the flames and I'll be whisked there," Aubrey summarized.

"More or less," Chance said. "You do have to be hooked up to the Floo network in order to do that though, because otherwise it is just a roaring fire."

"You sure this works for muggles, right?" asked Aubrey anxiously.

"Oh, yes, my father used it a lot before he died, like when we took a vacation to the house that my brother is living in now," Chance assured Aubrey. "The magic is in the Floo powder itself and can be used by a muggle if they happen to get some of the powder and the fireplace just happens to be hooked up to the network."

"Alright then," Aubrey agreed. "Why don't we go ahead and do that."

"Alright, I'll make some arrangements," Chance said. "I'll tell Amelia what we're going to do and she'll be very happy for us, I promise you. I'll also ask her to keep it to herself, until it's a done deal and it's not that anybody will object, just that they'll want us to have the big family wedding, which neither one of us wants or at least my sisters will, while the men in my family likely won't care one way or the other, so long as we're happy."

"We can have a wedding reception or something after we get back," Aubrey suggested.

"That's a good idea," Chance agreed. "So do you want to have a honeymoon? We could spend a few days in Vegas as Amelia and her granddaughters are perfectly capable of looking after the children for us."

"Well, I've never been been to Vegas," Aubrey admitted.

"Then how about we spend about a week there, although that's pretty short for a honeymoon. I'll rent us the nicest hotel room in the city that I can get on short notice," said Chance.

"That sounds good," Aubrey agreed kissing her new fiancé on the lips. "I was actually expecting you to propose weeks before you did," Aubrey informed him.

"Well, I wanted to give you time to absorb what you'd been told," Chance explained, "as I know it was a lot to take in. I'm actually surprised that you didn't tell me to get lost after all I told you of my rather numerous indiscretions."

"I wouldn't have done that," Aubrey informed him. "I was young once to and although I never did such a foolish thing as get pregnant numerous times over the years, I can certainly understand that it does happen and that you were just immature, especially for a man."

"Well, I'm lucky that my brother loved me enough to pull me back," Chance said, "since lecturing me wasn't working every time I came by, which wasn't very often, since I hated being lectured. My brother told me I was damn lucky that I hadn't gotten some sort of disease, like I told you awhile back or that I hadn't ruined my liver with all my alcohol consumption over the last 13 years."

"I'm glad he did or we never would have met," Aubrey said her voice choked for of emotion at that thought.

"But we did, thanks to my brother and the quadruplets," Chance said. "When my brother learned about the quadruplets and that they were his nieces and nephews, well, I had already begun to change at that point, become more responsible, but Spencer knew that taking care of four small children would help cement that change to where I didn't slip back into my old ways. I'll tell you the whole story sometime, but we need to start making arrangements."

"It might have taken you a lot longer to actually mature and grow up, but you did and that's all that matters," Aubrey told him kissing Chance on the cheek.

"So do you want to have children right away? Or wait awhile? Or not have any at all?" asked Chance. "I admit that having a child that's the perfect blend of both of us has been a dream of mine ever since I met you, but it's also your decision as well as mine since you're the one that'll be carrying him a her to term."

"I wouldn't mind having a few more children," Aubrey admitted. "My three were getting so big that I was thinking about asking Harvey if we could have another when he was killed. I'm still plenty young enough to get pregnant three or four more times since I'm only 34. However, since I don't have many childbearing years left, we probably need to go ahead and have our first child, especially if we want more after this."

"I would like as many as you want to have," Chance told her, "and don't worry I have plenty of money to support them so it doesn't matter if we happen to have a dozen."

"That's too many, especially since we already have seven between us," Aubrey told Chance laughing. "I won't object to four maybe five more though and then that'll be it because unless we have twins I don't have time to get pregnant more than three maybe four times."

"Well, twins do run in my family and there's also the fact that you are almost 35 and that has a lot to do with having them as well," Chance told her, "or at least that's what I've been told."

"I've heard that too," Aubrey admitted, "so it's probably true."

The two of them continued to sit and talk quietly for a few minutes before both rose to make arrangements since they would be gone for a week.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

"Congratulations!" Spencer told his brother and his new wife the minute they came in the front door.

It was just over a week later and Spencer had been expecting for his brother and Aubrey to elope thanks to his mate's insight and that was exactly what had happened.

"You don't seem at all surprised that we got married by eloping," Aubrey noted.

"I'm not," Spencer told them. "Aaron was the one that told me the two of you would probably elope, but if I'd actually thought about it I would have come to the same conclusion. Chance has never been one for big events like that and you've already been married once, so I couldn't see you wanting to go through a big wedding again unless you just loved to plan occasions like some women do. All Chance's female siblings are going to be disappointed, but considering the stunt Leah pulled it's not exactly unprecedented. As for me, I'm just glad to see Chance so happy, so welcome to the family, Aubrey. It's about time my brother did something right."

"Hey I am standing right here you know," Chance protested looking offended.

"Yes, and you've admitted to me that you can be an idiot and I just happened to agree with you," Spencer told him with a smirk causing Aubrey to laugh at her husband's expression, "but at least you weren't an idiot about Aubrey and let her disappear out of your life and that's all that matters."

"Thank you," Aubrey said giving her husband arm a squeeze of affection.

"You're welcome," Spencer told her coming forward and giving Aubrey a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then also hugging his brother. "I'm very happy for both of you and Aaron will be to when he hears. I told Chance that you would accept his past and not leave him like he feared and I told him that if he didn't tell you soon that you would believe he didn't love you like you did him. I'm glad for once Chance actually listened to me."

"Where is Aaron anyway?" asked Chance.

"He'll be home shortly," Spencer told the pair. "He just went out to the forest behind the house for a quick run in his wolf form. He does that sometimes because he says it makes it easier for him to think when he's away from everything."

"I'm surprised you didn't go with him, you could have," Chance said.

"Yes, I could have," Spencer agreed as he had achieved his Animagus form some years ago, after that visit to England after discovering his distant cousin Harry Potter. Much to his delight his form had indeed been that of a wolf, although he know the chances of that happening had been astronomical, but still it had and so he had worked at it every spare minute until he had finally achieved the transformation, so that he and Aaron could go running together sometimes. Unlike Aaron though he was a dark chocolate brown instead of black but then that was the color of his hair, so that was to be expected.

"However, Aaron needed some time alone and this was his way of telling me that he did. When I want to be alone my refuge is the library, Aaron's is usually turning into his wolf form and going for a nice long run."

"Sometimes people need time to themselves," Aubrey said approvingly. "You might love someone a lot, but you still need time for just you."

"Exactly," Spencer agreed with a smile. "Aaron and I are almost never apart, but occasionally we do need some private time, which doesn't mean that we don't love each other just that we need time to be ourselves without the other people present, even your spouse. There is nothing wrong with this, it is just an essential part of human nature to want some time for just yourself. So to change the subject are you going to have any children? Yes, I know you already have seven between the two of you, but you don't have any that are related to both of you."

"Funny you should mention that," Chance told his brother putting an arm around his wife's waist. "We agreed that we did want a few children and not to wait since Aubrey is only four years younger than I am, I won't be surprised if she's pregnant already, although I know it's too soon to tell."

"Maybe not," Spencer said.

"What do you mean?" asked Aubrey with a raised eyebrow.

"Just that I know the spell to check to see if you're pregnant, as I was a healer after all before I got out of it and there's a spell that can detect whether or not you're pregnant much earlier then muggle medical technology can. Would you like me to give it a try?" asked Spencer.

"You sure it's safe?" Aubrey asked and Spencer nodded.

"I wouldn't have suggested if I didn't know if it was safe even for muggle," Spencer told her.

"Alright then," Aubrey agreed.

Spencer took his wand out of the invisible holster on his left arm and waved it over Aubrey stomach muttering some words that neither Chance or Aubrey understood.

As soon as Spencer was done doing the complicated wand movements a picture begin to form right in front of Aubrey's belly. Spencer studied the picture intently and said, "I do believe you're pregnant, although it's not by more than a week."

"Well, that just means that we got pregnant on our wedding night," Chance said with a big happy grin. "Since we got married the very day we Flooed up to Vegas, and stayed a week, for kind of a mini honeymoon, a lot of which was spent in the honeymoon suite."

Aubrey blushed and elbowed her husband in the side. "I don't think your brother needs the details," Aubrey told her husband scoldingly.

"And I don't want to know the details, thank you," Spencer told his brother who just grinned at him unrepentantly. "In any case, you can come back to see me in a month or so and I should be able to tell more about your pregnancy or you can choose to go to a regular doctor or even another healer. You have a lot of options to choose from."

"I won't be surprised at all if it turns out to be twins," Chance told his brother who nodded.

"Well, Aubrey is around the right age for it and they do run in the family anyway, so it might very well be twins, but it's way too early to tell at this point," Spencer said. "So congratulations again to both of you on your first pregnancy as a couple and I'm looking forward to seeing if it's a boy or girl or both and to their birth."

"Thank you," Aubrey said with a smile happy about this pregnancy.

"So are you going to have anymore after this or will this be the only pregnancy for the two of you?" asked Spencer.

"Well, depending on how the birth of this one goes," Aubrey said patting her stomach, "Chance and I did discuss having more after this, but we'll just have to see."

"A wise precaution," Spencer agreed with a nod. "It's wise to see how each pregnancy goes and if they're complications. If there are it might not be wise to have anymore."

"Well, hopefully, this pregnancy and the birth will go smoothly," Chance said. "So when will you be able to tell what sex it is? Not that it really matters either way since Aubrey and I already have some of each, but still I'm curious."

"Not for a few months I'm afraid," Spencer told his brother. "Even magic can't tell the sex until at least the third month, which is two months earlier then for muggle medical technology."

"Too bad," Chance said disappointed.

"It doesn't really matter either way," Aubrey told the husband gently. "We'll still love him or her."

"Yes, we will," Chance agreed immediately.

"Why don't you stay for dinner, I'm sure Aaron will be just as happy with the news as I am," Spencer suggested.

"Are you sure it's not an imposition?" asked Aubrey and Spencer shook his head.

"No, Aaron and I are always happy to have guests and we always cook more than we could possibly eat at one meal," Spencer said, "so no he won't mind at all."

"Alright then," Chance said after looking at his wife who nodded.

"I'll just be happy I don't have to cook," Aubrey said with a grin.

"Well, I'm glad Aaron and I can save you from that fate," Spencer joked, "at least for one night anyway. Why don't you go sit down and I'll join you as soon as I get dinner started."

"Alright," Aubrey said, as she and Chance went to sit down on the couch, while Spencer disappeared in the direction of the kitchen.

~~~The Wizard and the Shapeshifter~~~

Eight and a half months later

Aubrey went into labor at just two weeks before they were due, which was much longer than anybody had expected her be able to carry her pregnancy, because it turned out that it was indeed twins, both boys, although it was nearly impossible to tell if they were identical or fraternal at this point, although it was more likely that they were indeed fraternal. The doctors had told her that they wanted to do a c-section at 7 1/2 months when it turned out be twins, simply because twins were almost always at least four to six weeks early. Aubrey had said that she didn't want to have a c-section at all since it was only twins and that she was only willing to have one if one of her sons was not turned in the proper direction in order to be born naturally. The doctors had warned her that she could go into labor anytime after the seventh month and so Chance and made sure that Aubrey was never alone. Aubrey did have a job, but she had taken maternity leave at the 7 month point, just to be on the safe side as she didn't want to go into labor while working, which had happened with her second daughter. Everybody was amazed, that Aubrey didn't go into labor by at least the beginning of the eighth month and that she managed to hold her children in her belly for two more weeks, which was pretty unusual, since twins were usually at least a month early.

The labor wasn't very long at all, just over two hours, which wasn't really all that unusual because she'd already given birth to three children and first babies often took the longest, while every one after it, was usually faster, although it did vary from baby to baby and even woman to woman.

In any case, just a little over two hours after Aubrey went into labor her two sons were born both with tufts of her black hair.

"They're beautiful," Aubrey said tiredly as she held one to her breast in order to feed him.

"Yes, they are," Chance said softly in awe at the miracle of the birth of his sons. "You were magnificent," Chance added kissing his wife on the forehead.

"Well, at least this birth went fast," Aubrey said. "I was in labor for almost 24 hours with my oldest daughter, but this one only lasted a little bit over two hours and was really easy compared to my others."

"It's your fourth pregnancy," the doctor told her gently, "and that has a lot to do with how easy it was. Also the fact that your sons were anxious to meet you, since both of them were in the proper position to be born naturally and that's rather unusual, although I will admit not so much for twins. However, you need to get some rest since I know you're tired after the labor, even if it was of such short duration."

"I am a little," Aubrey admitted quietly, "since pushing these big guys out wasn't exactly a walk in the park, but I'm not as tired as I remember feeling after the birth of my third child, but then that labor was longer at least six hours if I'm remembering right."

"So what are you going to name your two beautiful boys?" asked the doctor.

"Darin and Devlin," Chance answered immediately.

"Those are nice names," the doctor said, "and they even sound a little alike."

"Well, Darin is my middle name," Chance informed the doctor, "and I just like the sound of Devlin."

"I'll be back to check on you in awhile," the doctor informed Aubrey. "I suggest you sleep while you can since these two are going to keep you busy for years to come."

"Believe me, I'm well aware, since I have three other children," Aubrey told the doctor.

"You've never had to deal with two at once though and believe me, you're going to need help."

"We know doctor," Chance said, "Twins run my family and all four of my sisters have them and they have already told Aubrey and me how much work two babies are compared to one. Neither one of us is to worried, because we have plenty family to help us out and they've already volunteered."

Chance didn't bother to mention that fact that he had quadruplets and had raised them, with plenty of help, so it wasn't like he didn't know how much work multiples could be.

"Good," the doctor said looking pleased. "I'll be on my way then I have rounds to complete."

"Thank you, doctor," Aubrey said.

"You're welcome," the doctor said before he opened the room door and headed to do his rounds.

"Well, love it looks like we have two more beautiful children to add to the seven we already have," Chance told his beautiful wife kissing her on her sweat soaked cheek.

"Yes, and I have a feeling they are going to be a handful growing up," Aubrey said, as she held her second son to her breast so that he could feed.

"Probably," Chance admitted. "None of us, except perhaps, for Spence were angels when we were young, although I admit I was probably the worst and got into more trouble than you can imagine, so I don't imagine any sons of mine will be any different."

"Well, right now I'm for some sleep," Aubrey said yawning handing Chance his son and laying down.

"Sleep love, I'll be here when you wake," Chance told Aubrey who had already closed her eyes and was softly snoring a moment later.

Chance just stood there and gazed down at his gorgeous wife holding one of his beautiful sons and thought how lucky he was, especially considering his rather scandalous past. He swore to himself that he would do nothing to ruin the happiness that he had at this moment and be a husband and father that his wife and sons and other children could be proud of. This he swore silently on everything he held dear in this world.


End file.
